


Nightmares

by crayonbreakygal, wesfan1234 (crayonbreakygal)



Category: Angel - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-11
Updated: 2011-01-11
Packaged: 2017-10-14 16:30:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 53,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/151254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal, https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/wesfan1234
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Dreams". Faith and Wesley have escaped hell. Now why are they going back in?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Same Old Faith

Title: Nightmares

Author: WesFan

Summary: Sequel to "Dreams". Faith and Wesley have escaped hell. Now why are they going back in?

Pairings: Wesley/Faith, Connor/Dawn, don't know down the road yet, so there may be others.

Rating: R for strong language (it's Faith's fault, along with her buddy, good ole' Wes), some sexual situations, and violence (those Americans, too much violence)

Disclaimer: I'm only borrowing them from the genius that is Joss. I only own the baby slayers that I have created.

Note: This is the sequel to "Dreams". So you have to read the story to know what's happening. Total AU story taking place right after Connor killed Jasmine in "Peace Out". So no Lilah making her offer, no taking Cordy hostage. Connor runs off to find himself and LA goes to pieces, making the demon war possible. So I changed "Peace Out". Sue me. I hated the fifth season not because of the acting, which by the way was the best ever, but the amount of people that died. I never wanted Cordy, Fred and Wes to die. And Spike is still dead, so he's not going to appear.

Chapter One - Same Old Faith

"Same old Faith," Wesley thought as he helped strap her in. They were riding in a helicopter in the middle of a war zone.

He just thought it ironic that they weren't enemies in this situation. They had worked together as a team and it had gotten them out of a very tough situation. Connor and Dawn had also survived the ordeal intact. Wounded, but intact. The two would heal in time. Both had survived worse.

He had survived worse. Faith had survived worse. This counted as right up there in challenging situations in his book.

Looking over at Faith, he wondered what on earth he saw in her. Stubborn, angry, unreasonable, didn't care for authority, and oh that thing about killing people. Had she paid for all that she had done?

Good question was had he paid for all the heartache he had caused? Part of the evidence sat not two feet from him in the form of Connor. Angel's son. The child who should not be, but is. Child of two vampires. Child that he stole from his father to be taken away viciously.

The wound on his neck would never heal in his mind.

So, Faith and he were two of a kind. They sought redemption from the horrendous things they had done.

But what was the score? Faith had gone to jail, willingly, had not caused so much as a ruckus until Wesley had broken her out. To fix another one of his mistakes.

Bringing out Angelus had been his idea and his responsibility. He handed it over to Faith when the situation had gotten out of control and she solved his problem. Cage the beast to make him whole. To restore his soul. There was no way to fix it otherwise. So Faith saved the world from an unspeakable evil, again.

Then she helped Buffy rid the world of the First and his minions, without hesitation. Faith, a big whooping 2, Wesley 0.

Angelus did kill the Beast though, which maybe helped their cause. Can't really score any points for that. Wesley couldn't think of any instances where he had saved the world or any significant part of it. A few people here and there. He guessed that was something.

Was he jealous of Faith? Yes, only for the fact that she had found a way to start redeeming herself while he was still searching.

Fight the good fight. Don't get killed. Stay alive to fight another day. Things he had heard Buffy and Angel say. Was he better off alive than dead? Would he gladly trade places with Angel? Might have done more good, he thought. He might know what to do in this situation.

But Wesley had muddled through the best he could and they were all alive on his watch. But something had gone significantly wrong with the picture.

Faith had become linked with him somehow through unknown forces. At first, it was subtle, then became amusing, then a mystery, and then downright scary.

Faith had said something to him in her mind not more than an hour ago that she was becoming him and he was becoming her. She didn't mean it in the sense that they were switching bodies. Their personalities were changing, melding together. Even sitting there on the helicopter after the most recent battle, Wesley still felt the urge to hit something.

Faith had talked HIM down several times, not the other way around. He was supposed to be the wise, old leader. Not the cocky, brash kid who couldn't get enough violence.

Whoever had put them in this situation obviously did not see the consequences. Faith still maintained her slayer abilities, but with his skills being added every day. Would he lose his and maybe gain some of hers? He'd test her abilities and his the first opportunity he had.

But it was the negative personality traits that troubled him. His planning skills were shot, his reactions to things emotional not at all characteristic, his violent tendencies unchecked, all appearing at the forefront. These were things that he had prided himself in doing, controlling. Have a plan, be detached from that plan and only use force if necessary.

He wasn't acting like the watcher he was trained to be, the man his father trained him to be. He was acting a hell of a lot like Faith. And she like him. That's what scared him the most. Would she be able to control him if he went over that edge? She had been able to so far.

And why would he want her to in the first place. Let her be the logical, rational one for once in her life. It would be nice for a change for everyone to look at him as the muscle instead of the brain or "the man with the plan", as Gunn had so aptly put it once. So when the plan failed, no blame could be thrown his way.

So, there he sat, flying off in a helicopter to God knew where, trying to figure out again where he fit in. It would be nice to be that Rogue Demon Hunter he once was instead of Book Man or Research Guy. Let Faith research the demon and he'd put a bullet in its brain and leave it at that.

Their personal relationship. Another one of his responsibilities. He had the ability to stop whatever it was that they were doing, but he hadn't. Because it felt good, right for the moment. He'd been her watcher at one time, so those things were inappropriate to say the least. No watching going on by him now. He didn't even know if she had one. Pity the person who was.

People would probably look at their so-called relationship and call it twisted. She'd tortured him for goodness sake and acted like she had fun while doing it. Until he saw her break down in that alley. She had tortured herself mentally, he just was the instrument.

He'd forgiven her when she'd said she was sorry. But it was not forgotten. Those four hours was the lowest of the low in her life and his. He had experienced that with her, which had created a sort of bond between them.

They had exchanged a few letters while she was in prison. She was getting the help she so desperately needed in the form of doctors and prison walls while he sat and drank his. Sometimes he wondered if she had gotten the better deal.

But through it all, she had come to realize what she had done to him and the others was wrong. For that, he was extremely proud of her. Why should she be held back? She deserved to be praised for coming so far. Languishing in self-pity was his reward.

So the question about their so-called relationship was did _he_ deserve her? He wanted to think that there was something other than physical attraction. He'd always thought of her as quite striking from the first time he saw her. The way her mind worked fascinated him, even after she had turned to the dark side. She had never been a simple person.

Unfortunately, all of his relationships with women though had boiled down to a simple fact of not. Cordelia liked him in Sunnydale because he was not Xander, Virginia had liked him because he was not her father, and Lilah had liked him because he was not Angel. Second place was not a fun place to be.

He couldn't think of a reason why Faith would actually like him. She used to despise him, loathe him. They had gotten off on the wrong foot and never regained said footing.

If they had stayed in the watcher/slayer relationship, would they have ended up at the same place as today? He certainly should confide to Giles that all new watchers be over the age of fifty. It's just too difficult to watch a young body with all that energy and zest for life without feeling something.

Without their connection, would they be where they were today? Maybe. Could the connection have been a byproduct of the things they did together in LA? Unlikely. But he was the one to initiate that searing kiss in the hallway of the Hyperion just before Faith left for Sunnydale. She could have refused.

Just pent up sexual desire? Her eyes had flashed fire when she first saw him right before breaking out of prison. His outward appearance had appealed to her. She had even said so one or two times. So all he had to do was change his mode of dress, grow a little facial hair and adopt a somewhat surly attitude and Faith was his? He wasn't so sure about that.

He was sure about one thing though. Whenever he touched Faith intimately, it made everything bad go away. Adrenaline rush, hormones, something made it right. A sick, twisted sort of right, but right nonetheless.

They were two of a kind, a matched set. Different as night and day, yet so similar underneath it was uncanny. Layers upon layers yet to explore. He'd love to peel them back and see more.


	2. Same New Wes

Chapter Two – Same New Wes

As the helicopter started to land, Faith decided that it was time to open her eyes. Thank God she was so good at faking unconsciousness. Wesley'd kill her if he knew she'd been listening in on his mental conversation with himself.

At first, she thought the man's a fucking loony psycho. Then she concluded, damn how can he be so right, the peeling layer part aside. Too much like bananas. Made her too hungry.

So the man didn't think he could be redeemed, that she had that market cornered. Thought he was a total fuck-up. Something she thought about herself constantly. Oh man, did he have relationship issues. Well, she'd never had a real relationship to speak of, so how was she to judge.

She was glad they hadn't stayed in that watcher/slayer mode. Even back then she had felt the urge to throw him up against a wall somewhere and take him just to see his reaction. She had never thought of Giles that way. And he thought that his change of demeanor had done it for her. Helped a little, but he had started doing it for her long before.

What to do now, she thought? Get the guy's big ole' brain back on track, find B and live happily ever after? Not that simple. Just as their so-called relationship, as he put it so well, would ever be. She'd be bored and out of there if it was that simple.

But now, reality was back. Warm shower, warm bed, hot sex with a man that had great hands. What more could she want?

As she moved around a little to wake up her muscles, Wesley's hand clasped hers tightly.

"Back to reality," he mouthed to her.

The copter landed and the door was opened. Several people stood at the end of the tarmac, waiting for answers. With the mission incomplete, all she could do was laugh.

Oh man, this would not be what those guys would want. And damn, was she screwed with Giles.

Wesley gave her a squeeze of the hand, but didn't let go. The military unloaded Dawn and Connor first to get them medical attention. Then Wesley jumped off, helping Faith down to the ground. And he never let go.

I'm your lifeline, buddy. We're in this together, she thought.

In more ways than one, he answered silently.

Giles ran out to her, searching for Buffy.

"Where is she?" he asked as he saw Dawn being wheeled by. "Dawn?"

"Will live," Faith assured him.

Then his eyes focused on the man firmly attached to her side. "Wesley?"

Too late she'd seen the rage in his heart. He let go of her and sent his fist into Giles' face, knocking him down. Several of the military men moved forward to intervene on Giles' behalf, but she stepped in front of Wesley. Not only to stop him, but to protect him. Besides, it was kind of funny watching Rupert get knocked to his ass every once in a while.

"I didn't send my guys out after you Faith to have some wild-eyed mercenary deck Giles for no reason." Faith turned to see Riley Finn walk toward her. And by the looks of things, he was a very important man in these parts.

Giles had gotten up, but hadn't gotten any closer to the ex-watcher, glaring from a distance. Lots of animal themes ran through her mind at the moment like, "Don't stick your hand in the cage, or you might get bitten," or something like that. Wesley did kind of look like a wild animal at the moment.

"Hey Giles. Sorry about the greeting, but we'd like to check on Dawn and Connor. And Marlboro man here probably needs stitches somewhere. Although I'm not sure where at this point considering all the dried blood."

Wesley's eyebrow shot up.

"Hey, Willow's analogy, not mine."

Faith took Wesley's hand to follow Riley, who had taken off to see where they'd wheeled the teenagers. As soon as they gotten to that building, the metal detectors went off noisily.

"You know, I don't think crazy-ass psycho man'll want to give up his weapons," she pointed out to Riley as the two guards stood at attention.

"You're civilians."

Oh man, she really had to get that expression off of Wesley's face or he'd be decking Finn at any moment. Then the guards would draw their weapons.

"Faith, ladies first," Wesley managed to get out.

So she started to unload her weapons. Ax, gun, stakes, knife, piling them on the table. The guards' eyes got larger.

"Come on, Wes. I showed you mine, now where's yours? I don't want to have to frisk you." Well, at least she knew the shotgun wasn't hidden on him. Too big.

Ax, oh nice one too. He smiled at her. Gun, his. Must have gotten it back from Connor. Another gun, military. When'd he lift that? Knife from one boot, bigger knife from the other. Faith tapped her foot.

"Sleeve?" she asked.

Wesley rolled his sleeve up to reveal the stake contraption that had saved them in that dark alley.

"So, you clean?"

"Going to frisk me and see?" he challenged.

"Oh good God man," Giles said from a few feet away.

Wesley just laughed and dug another, much smaller knife out of his boot.

"Feel better?"

"Not in the least." Finally a civilized answer. But the flame in his eyes wasn't tame at all.

"Where are the kids, Finn?" Faith turned to ask the military man.

The two went through the detector again and were waved on. No beeps.

"You better not have lied to me," she whispered to him as they strode down a sterile corridor.

"What they can't detect, Faith."

Faith took his hand to steady him. Finn directed them to the room where Dawn and Connor were being evaluated. The doctor walked over to Riley and saluted.

"Sir, these two have extensive injuries. The female has been shot once in the thigh, significant blood loss. Luckily someone stopped it. The male's arm has been shattered. May need surgery."

"No," Wesley spoke up. "Set it. See if it heals on its own."

"Sir. You're not a doctor."

"The boy heals as fast as a slayer. Didn't want to waste your time."

"How on earth was Dawn so badly injured Faith? You were supposed to protect her and find Buffy." Giles wanted answers. "And if you had anything to do with it," he directed toward Wesley.

Connor was watching the byplay and started to get up. Wesley motioned for him to stay put. Thank God for small favors, Faith realized. They had no idea what they were dealing with in Connor.

"We'll talk Giles. But Wes needs medical attention, so it'll have to wait."

Riley directed Wesley over to another bed. Giles put a hand on her to stop.

"Is she alive?" Faith could see the grave concern on the watcher's face.

"Yeah. Wes seems to think that she is. And Dawn, she did good Giles. Buffy'd be proud of her." Faith started to walk away. "Oh and Giles, bad plan."

"That's quite obvious, now isn't it," Giles admitted, rubbing his sore jaw.

"Yeah, even you can screw up royally sometimes."

"Not been the first time."

Wesley sat down gingerly on the medical bed. When he briefly had seen his reflection earlier in the mirror, no wonder people backed off from him. Ax-murderer indeed.

"I know you," he spoke to Riley.

"Have me at a disadvantage." The man before him was tall, lean, military through and through. He saw what Buffy would see in him. Normal in a way. Much more normal than Angel that was for sure.

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. We have a mutual . . . ." He had wanted to say friend, but that didn't fit. Angel had told him he despised the guy. "I worked for Angel."

"Oh, ohhhh." Riley shook his head.

"So, how is he?"

"Dead."

"Not just undead?"

"No, dead as in dust dead."

"Sorry to hear that. Buffy?"

"Alive, as far as I can tell."

"How do you know?"

"You'll have to wait your turn, now won't you?" Wesley hadn't wanted to tweak the man, but he did anyway.

"Now, honey, no antagonizing the nice man with the gun," Faith said as she walked up to the bed. "As I have said many times before. You look like hell."

Wesley knew she was sort of kidding. Giles had followed her, waiting patiently.

"If you must know, I performed a locator spell to find Buffy. I saw her, but something blocked me from seeing her location."

"You can do magicks? When did this happen?"

"Always did do them, Rupert. You just never asked."

Faith grabbed his hand again. "Hey, if you do what you just thought . . . ."

"I don't quite get your meaning," Giles looked at the two.

"See. And I could have shown him, Faith."

"There will be no showing, only talking. Got it, buster?"

"Or what?"

"You'll pay. That's what." Faith smirked a little. Dammit, she'd read his mind again. The gutter it was.

"Like to see you try."

And Giles looked as if he wanted to twist Wesley's head off. Who could blame him? He had baited everyone in the room, including Faith.

"Now, if you two are done being children."

"For now," Faith answered.

Faith took a big breath to calm herself. Giles needed to know the whole story.

"Giles, it was really bad. But there are pockets of resistance. We still have a fighting chance to score big time. Take out the leader and we might be able to take them all down."

Faith thought, "thank you Wes for the deduction skills to figure this out."

Wesley came alive now. "They're way too organized. They knew exactly which infrastructure to take to make a city come to its knees. There were demons that had blood vengeances that have last a millennia that were working together." Research guy now.

"Coordinated attacks? We weren't sure," Riley added.

"Unless you knew the way the demons worked, it wouldn't have been apparent. Take over one of the most powerful cities in the world to be your base of operations. Bloody brilliant plan. It would take someone charismatic and powerful to pull it off."

"Yes. I'll start to research which demons could have the potential to do this," Giles answered.

"Could be human?" Faith pointed out.

"That'll be my homework then," Riley said.

The doctor had started tending to Wesley's injuries. The man hadn't flinched the entire time. They slowly were cutting through his shirt during the whole conversation. All the cuts that had dried made it difficult to just take the shirt off.

"So, we'll need a place to clean up and get some sleep. Food too."

Giles and Riley didn't say a word, but Faith knew they wanted to ask about all of Wesley's scars. Both knew some of the story, especially the torture part. Not her business to say a word.

"Looks like you've been through combat," the doctor mentioned as he checked Wesley over.

"You could say that. Lots of it as a matter of fact." Not blaming her entirely. That was a good thing.

"Surprised the one on the neck didn't kill you."

"Guess I must be lucky," Wesley answered. He reached for Faith's hand.

"Or have a guardian angel," Faith joked.

"Cordelia always called me Timex man." Faith laughed. Giles was not amused.

"Faith, I'll need a full report after you've rested. One more question. Who is the boy?"

Willow never told Giles? That little sneak. She never thought to mention it. Buffy must know. Giles had been gone a lot that last year or so before Sunnydale went bye-bye.

"Connor. Angel's son," Wesley whispered.

Giles' eyes widened in disbelief. "Lots and lots to talk about, Faith."


	3. Same Old Faith

Chapter Three – Stuffy British Men

Two guards showed Wesley and Faith to the housing wing of the complex.

"Miss, this is your room. If you'll just follow me." The guard pointed to Wesley.

"This will do just fine," as Wesley marched in after Faith and slammed the door shut in his face.

"That was subtle," Faith mentioned as they checked out the room. Still a little too paranoid.

The room was spartan. Bed, table, two chairs, bathroom, mini-frig. Food on the table. Faith took a banana from the stack and started eating.

He stood and just watched her. Cleared his mind almost completely. Then proceeded to burst out laughing. Faith almost choked on her banana. Then she joined in after a coughing fit.

"Hey, I almost choked," she pointed out.

"Quite amusing, don't you think?"

"The banana, no. You knocking Giles on his ass or the expressions when you pulled out all of those weapons. Man, their faces."

"You played along nicely."

"Not exactly any choice, Mr. Macho. Had to protect those innocent guys from you. Even G.I. Joe didn't know what to do with you."

"Who?"

"Finn. Although he was a little less wary of you."

"Not a smart bugger, is he?"

"Smarter and stronger than you think. Held his own against Buffy. Not bad for a human. Still don't know what B saw in him."

Wesley took a bite of apple.

"A little too lovey-dovey sappy for me." Especially in bed. "Dammit."

Now it was Wesley's turn to choke. "How?"

"Body switch. Remember?"

"Vaguely," he sarcastically commented.

"Shower, now. These clothes'll have to be burned."

"No clothes." Wesley smiled.

"I'm sure they'll eventually find something for us to wear," Faith told him as she advanced toward him.

"Not that I don't mind you sans clothes."

"Lame," Faith said as her mouth closed over his. "Now, shower big guy."

Wesley took her hand to lead her into the small bathroom with him.

"I might need some help in my weakened state."

"Weakened state, my ass. You just want someone to wash your back."

"There is that."

"How's the wrist? Looks better."

"Is better, thanks to you." Wesley stripped off the white tee shirt they had given him in the infirmary. His chest looked like one big scrape. Then he dropped his pants.

"I love a man who knows how to strip in front of a girl." She really did love baiting him.

"Maybe later you can show me your technique."

Wesley pulled open the shower door and turned the water on. When he turned back, Faith was down to her very skimpy underwear.

"I was serious about washing your back."

"Tight fit," Wesley mentioned.

"Hey. I'm not that big. Besides, you are way too skinny. Maybe some of that military chow will fatten you up."

"I don't intend on staying here that long." Wesley didn't want them to think he worked for them.

"That water better be hot."

"Scalding, actually. Just the way you like it." Faith had taken one of those showers in his apartment right after the escape from prison. The second time she proceeded to take one, she destroyed his shower stall. Wesley never had the time to fix it properly.

Faith stripped the rest of her clothes off and stepped into the shower. "Get in here or I'll use all the hot water."

Wesley joined her. She did keep her promise to wash his back. And he had slowly washed her hair, which made her purr. But as he shut off the water and gave her a kiss on the forehead, he wondered why he hadn't taken what she so willingly offered.

"You OK, watcher?" she asked him as he shaved at the foggy sink. She had donned his new shirt and sat down on the toilet. Brushing out her thick hair, she watched him.

"Yes."

"So, did I do something wrong, cuz I thought that we . . . ."

Wesley finished with his face and looked down at Faith. "Here. Let me help."

Faith's hair smelled wonderful no matter what she used on it. He'd always liked long, curly hair. Cordelia's had looked so silky and luxurious at times, he just wanted to run his fingers through it, although he knew he'd get slapped for it.

The first thing that had attracted him to Virginia was her beautiful hair. The color in the light, how if he pushed his fingers through it, the curls would just wind themselves around his fingers. Fred's hair was fine and as soft as a baby's. Well, Lilah's hair wasn't what interested him at the time.

Faith's hair was a combination of all those elements he liked about women's hair. Soft, silky, thick, so he could bury his fingers in it to just feel. And she obviously liked his ministrations too.

"Thanks," she whispered to him.

No more talking, Wesley led her to the bed and pulled down the covers and patted the bed. He dropped the towel from around his waist and she took off the shirt. His body screamed for sleep. And the only way he'd get it would be to wrap Faith around him. She immediately understood what he needed.

* * *

A couple hours later, Faith dreamt again the same exact dream of dying on that altar. As she gasped for air, Wesley held her.

"I can't breathe," she struggled.

"Faith, you're hyperventilating. It's OK." He rubbed her back to reassure her.

"It was so real," she said breathing heavily.

Wesley kissed her until her body relaxed into his again. When he stopped, she stared into his deep blue eyes. She just loved his eyes. He kissed her again, but more passionately this time.

"Take me. I'm yours," Faith whispered in his ear.

"What did you say?"

"Something I've wanted to say for a very long time."

His eyes looked like blue flames as he entered her. And he looked at her the whole time. What he couldn't say out loud, he said with his heart and soul. He belonged to her too. She wasn't letting go of him any time soon.

* * *

Faith woke up, wrapped in Wesley's arms. It was dark in the room. The clock on the nightstand said 7:25 p.m. They'd slept for nearly twenty-four hours, with a couple of intimate intermissions in between. Her body felt rested and ready for action. Any kind of action.

As she reached down to wake Wesley, someone knocked on the door.

"Wakey, wakey, Wes. Someone's at the door."

"You go answer it, love. I'm knackered."

"I would, but hey, I might give ole' Giles a heart attack when he sees me in my birthday suit."

With that statement unfogging his brain, Wesley shot straight up in bed.

"You're correct. Good call." Wesley grabbed the discarded towel, placing it over his hips. Man, he had a nice ass.

Wesley stopped for a second, adjusting the towel, then proceeded to open the door.

Rupert Giles stood on the other side, none too happy with Wesley. Kind of reminded him of his father when he told him about his mistakes with the slayers.

"What are you doing here?" Giles asked.

 _None of your fucking business_ , Wesley thought. Faith snickered in the background.

"I was sleeping, if you must know. What do you want?"

"Need I remind you of your responsibilities?"

Faith had wrapped herself up in a sheet and walked toward them.

"I'm not her watcher any more, Rupert. She's an adult."

"No matter how much time passes, you will still be her watcher. That bond just doesn't magically go away."

"Hey, slayer right here. Talk to me like I'm standing in front of you."

"You're both adults. I'm not here to judge."

"Yes, you are Rupert. Now I ask you again, what do you want?" His patience was held by a tight string that was attached to Faith.

"For one, research help. Two, the children have been asking about you. So I thought I'd check."

"No clothes, Giles," Faith pointed out.

"Oh, sorry. I'll get some for you then. I'm not sure about size."

Wesley walked to the bathroom, gathered up all the clothes, and thrust them into Giles' arms.

"I trust this will help," Wesley deadpanned. Faith's rather skimpy underwear was on top.

"Yes, this will," Giles said as he adjusted the heap to not be staring at Faith's intimates. "And Faith?"

"Yeah."

"Now I know what to get you for Christmas." And Giles walked away with the bundle, chuckling.

"Is it just me or are all stuffy British men this way?" Faith asked, blushing.

"What, prudes?"

"Sex-depraved lunatics."

"I think the latter. Another shower, perhaps."

"You just read my mind."


	4. Apples

Chapter Four - Apples

Her watcher-man was on track for the moment and she intended for him to stay that way.

But the military still didn't trust them. As they were led into a conference room by a guard, Faith realized that this was more than researching. Giles sat in the room with Finn and a few other military types. They wanted an official accounting of everything that had happened.

Would Wesley be willing to share his personal tragedies with a bunch of strangers? The only reason she knew everything was because of the dream. And oh damn, their connection. That one she'd rather keep between the two of them. Food was put out in front of them. They obviously were going to be there for a while.

"Gentlemen, Faith," Riley started, "We would like an update of the situation firsthand from the inside. Faith and Mr. Wyndam-Pryce have just come from the war zone."

Another older guy, who looked to be Riley's superior couldn't believe that. "Major Finn, you'll have me to believe that these two civilians were able to fight their way out of there."

"Yes, General. The female possesses powers that not many others have. She's what is called a slayer." Faith wanted to nod off. Blah, blah, blah. "A slayer fights the forces of darkness, i.e., the demons, the vampires, whatever evil there is."

"Wait," the second man asked. "I thought that this Buffy Summers was the slayer."

"More than one. Was only supposed to be one. Buffy died for a few minutes, drowning. So Faith is a product of that calling after another girl died. They're both full-fledged slayers."

Faith tapped her fingers on the table. Wesley covered her nervous hand with his. How come these guys get to know all of this?

"History lesson aside, what the hell do you need with us?" Wesley finally interjected.

"Who is this guy?" the General asked. The second man handed him a folder, but it stayed closed.

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce." He finished in his mind _What's it to you, you ponce_. God, he was channeling Spike now too, Faith thought.

"He was a watcher like Mr. Giles, but was fired. He now works for Angel Investigations in Los Angeles."

"Worked," Wesley corrected him.

Man, you usually couldn't shut the old Wesley up. This one gives you one-word answers.

"So, he's some two-bit private detective."

Wesley just glared. One more insult and he'd be gone.

"No, actually General, they hunted down demons who were hurting people. Provided a great service to the population, I believe." Giles had defended Wesley. Would wonders never cease?

"Mr. Pryce, you haven't made your case on why we should trust you." The General was annoyed. Wesley was getting more wound up by the minute.

"Beg your pardon, but I really don't give a rat's ass about whether you trust me or not."

"Wesley, we are trying to determine what happened and if we have a chance of stopping this from spreading."

"Oh, what, the bombing thing not your style, Rupert."

"Now is not the time, Wesley."

Wesley chuckled. "Never was."

"What happened to your people?" Riley asked.

Faith could tell Wesley didn't want to share.

"They . . ." was he thinking of something snide to say or could he even tell them. "They all died."

"Angel's gone?" Giles inquired.

"Trying to save Cordelia," Faith added.

Wesley was waiting for it. The censure, the blaming. But it didn't come.

"Cordelia was already dying when we went to the hospital, coma you see. Angel didn't want to leave her behind. It was a coordinated demon attack. We held them off for as long as we could. Angel pushed me out of the way. A few minutes later, a demon staked him."

"The rest of your crew?" Riley kept going.

"Burned. Seems we had pissed off a lot of demons. Took their revenge. All I found were burned corpses. It took me three months to get out of LA. The going was not pretty. And then I found Dawn. Resourceful girl. You and Buffy have taught her well."

Giles smiled a little. "Had to. The boy, Connor?"

"He'd left LA almost six months prior. He'd had a hard time of it and took off."

"What are their strengths and weaknesses? How many weapons did they seize? What the hell is going on there?"

Riley tried to clear up some of the confusion. "We can't get a satellite photo of any of California, much less the West Coast. They, whoever they are, have blocked us from seeing. Any teams we have sent in haven't been heard from again. Nothing's leaving that area and nothing's going in either."

"This cannot spread," the second man interrupted.

"That's why I finally called the Council in. They'd been working on it independently. I thought we could join forces."

"I really don't see how a bunch of young girls could go in." The General was not with the believing. She could show him.

"If you would like a demonstration, General, I'd be happy to oblige. Need to train anyway." Faith eyed Wesley. His hands were tense, twisting nervously. He obviously needed some tension release also.

"But just one? You said you had an army of them." The flunky guy was getting on Faith's nerves.

"Giles, they're not ready. Those baby slayers are not ready." She knew. She'd been helping them train.

"We may not have a choice, Faith. The best of them are on their way here. We'll evaluate them then."

"I am not going to get anyone killed."

"Millions, Faith. Millions unaccounted for. We need to try something."

Weight of the world. No wonder they wanted Buffy instead of her.

"So we send this woman in with a bunch of girls. They take out the leader. Then what, Finn?"

"I have teams gearing up as we speak."

"Guerilla warfare. It'll be just like Vietnam if we're not careful."

"Oh, and with the eight foot demons who can crush your skull with one punch. Sounds like fun. Faith? Time to train?"

Faith could feel that itch that Wesley was so obviously feeling. He needed to punch something. Why'd he have to get that nasty character trait from her? It was actually one she had learned to control. With Wesley around to enhance her slayer abilities, it made it harder. She'd have to ask Giles about a different meditation technique.

"Giles, we'll need our weapons back," Faith asked as Finn got up from the table.

Wesley grabbed an apple to eat on the way out.

"It's to eat, Wes. No projectiles, please." Faith would really have to keep him on a leash. A very short leash.

Riley turned to glare at Wesley. He just smiled and took a bite.

"Good apple," he said as he passed Riley.

"I'm not sure what is wrong with him Faith, but you need to rein him in and quickly," Giles told her as they walked to the infirmary.

As they entered, Dawn waved them over to her bed. Connor's was set up next to hers. He smiled some too when he saw them coming.

"Look, they gave us matching beds. Isn't that cool?" Dawn was giddy.

"Dawn, they're hospital beds. They're supposed to look the same."

"And you're supposed to be the fun slayer, Faith."

"Connor, how is your arm?"

"Better. I'll be in this cast for a little while longer though. Itches like crazy."

"And they've been feeding us like every hour. How about you two?"

They'd had breakfast at 8:00 p.m. And the damn apple Wesley was still crunching on.

"Yeah, we're good kid."

"Good apples, Faith," Wesley grinned to her.

"We're going to train. Lots of energy after sleeping for nearly twenty-four hours."

"Was it really that long? I can't remember what time you woke me up."

The dork Wes knew when she woke him up. He was just baiting both Riley and Giles.

"The children need their rest. If you would like to train now," Giles said as he tried to lead Faith and Wesley away.

"Not a child, Mr. Giles." Connor looked a little angry with him.

"Son, when you're as old as I am, then you qualify."

Wesley laughed and threw his core of the apple into a trashcan. At the other end of the room. Bulls eye.

"Ready Faith? Wesley took her hand in his.

"Yes. Now," she commanded.

Riley led them down several corridors, reaching a gym. A few people were present, but there was plenty of room for them.

"Show off," Faith whispered to Wesley.

"I could do that a long time before this, darling."

"Oh. I knew that." Like she knew it, but really didn't.

"Faith, would you like me to . . . ," Giles started to ask.

"Rupert, I'll take this one," Wesley said as he walked by.

"Sorry, Giles. Next time." Faith smiled.

The two stood beside each other.

"Let's try to determine what abilities have changed and what have stayed the same, shall we?" Wesley whispered, leaning into her.

"I don't want to hurt you," Faith told him a she put a hand on his arm.

"I need this more than you do. Unless you want to go back to the room." They'd run out of protection, so that would have to wait until much later.

"This'll do, big guy."

Faith circled Wesley, looking for an opening. He stood looking at her, not bringing his arms up to fight. But she knew better. He was ready.

"We should warm up first."

"Already warm."

"Not what I'm talking about." Faith took a swing and he ducked.

"Take your time. Find your opening."

"Oh, I will, watcher. I will." Faith kicked out, hitting nothing but air.

"Not bad."

"I missed. Not good either."

Both Giles and Riley watched from the sidelines. The general and his flunky were at the side of the room, getting their fill also.

"Now?" he finally asked her.

"Now," she yelled as she charged. He was ready for her. More than ready. He blocked and spun like a pro. Like a slayer. Faith couldn't seem to land a punch. She finally brought him down though by sweeping his legs out from underneath him.

"Good one," Wesley pointed out as she extended a hand out to help him up. He took the opportunity to drag her down on the floor, flipping her over him. "Let your guard down."

"That's it. You're going down, Wes." He'd pissed her off on purpose, so she'd stop holding back.

Her roundhouse kick connected. He grunted but put out a kick of his own. Ouch, he did hurt when he did that.

"Long legs. Puts you at an advantage."

"Don't be a baby, Faith." Same taunt she had used against him when he was hurt. "And you're not following through like you should."

"Thanks. You're a peach."

They kept up the sparring for another fifteen minutes, both satisfied with their discoveries.

"You're strong," Faith told him after.

"I could hold my own before, but now?"

"I know, I know."

"Tired?"

"A little. I'll go another round if you want."

"How about another sparring partner, Faith?" Riley called to her from the sidelines. Wesley just grinned. The military types had left after their demonstration.

"Tired, Finn. Must be the altitude. Wesley'll take you up on it."

And she'd get to see exactly what he had gained. She could tell his speed and agility had increased, but he knew her moves. He couldn't read Finn's mind though.

"Him? Sure."


	5. Rock Bottom

Chapter Five – Rock Bottom

"Don't hurt him," Faith whispered to Wes.

"You sure, man?" Riley was much larger than Wesley. They both were tall men, but Riley hadn't been living in hell for the last three months. He had Wesley on bulk, probably topping out at least 6"5'. A couple of inches and a lot more weight could do a lot more damage.

Although Faith was tiny compared to the two, she still knew she could take them both. Or maybe just Finn now. With Wesley, she couldn't tell anymore.

"Yes. That would be lovely."

Faith snorted. "Dumbass."

Wesley winked at her and took a swing at Riley. He ducked, but not by much.

"Faith, is there something you're not telling me?" Giles said, standing next to her.

"Oh, and why would you think that Giles?"

"Just a hunch."

Riley connected with a punch, knocking Wesley back slightly. _Assess your opponent first, she thought to herself_.

 _I know what to do, Faith. Remember?_

 _Yeah, you do. He favors his right._

 _Will you just let me do this?_

 _I'll be quiet._

 _Thank you._

The whole conversation took place in their heads. Too freaky for words. Neither one was winning because both had gotten in some good punches.

"I didn't know watchers could fight like this?"

 _Don't let him psych you out, Wes._

"Ex-watcher. And Angel's a great teacher."

Riley let his guard down just slightly at the sound of Angel's name. Wesley took advantage and connected to the man's face.

"Why would someone like you work for someone like him?" Riley asked.

His kick hit Wesley in the stomach.

"Like to fight on the side of good, I suppose."

"Never could tell with that guy. One moment of true happiness and all. Connor?"

Wesley jumped away when Riley charged him.

"One moment of true despair, I think he said at the time. He had an epiphany."

Wesley then knocked him on his ass. Good one.

"Epiphany? This is the same man we're talking about, right?" Riley answered as he scrambled back up.

"Have to hit bottom before you can climb out. Right, Faith?"

Faith hadn't been really listening to the conversation. She'd been watching their fighting. "Been there, done that." She'd hit bottom with Wesley those four long hours. When had he hit bottom?

"Where's your bottom, Pryce?"

"Lots of them, Finn. And the scars to go with them."

Wesley threw out a vicious punch that had blood spurting from Riley's mouth. Riley charged him, tackling him and bringing both to the ground.

"Dammit, Wes. You should have held back a little."

"Break them up now, Faith." Giles was serious.

"What, and have one of them take a swing at me?"

"Now."

Faith dragged Riley off of Wesley, throwing him to the side. But Wesley was still in fight mode and threw a mean punch. Faith deflected it a little, but it still packed a wallop.

The wild-eyed look was replaced by repulsion. He'd actually, really hit her. She knew it was a mistake, but his face said it all.

"Faith, I . . . ."

"Nothing to be sorry about. I knew you could throw one my way. I'm OK. Don't worry about it."

 _And don't fall apart on me now, please. I can take it_. Faith wanted him to know it.

"Time to stop?"

"Yeah. I think so." Faith helped him off the ground.

"No hard feelings?" Riley stuck his hand out to shake.

"No. No hard feelings." Wesley returned the handshake, promptly taking Faith's hand afterward.

"Enough training for the night." Giles looked at Faith. What should she tell him? Riley waved to them as he left the gym. "Let's find a quiet place to talk. Your room?"

"Yeah. As good a place as any."

Giles kept looking at their handholding like he knew there was a link.

"You're not psychic, are you?" Faith asked as they made their way to the room.

"No. Of course not. Just very observant."

* * *

Faith opened the door to their room. Their old clothes sat on the table, cleaned.

"Amazing. I thought that these were a lost cause," Wesley said as he sat down on a chair.

Giles sat down on the other while Faith sat on the edge of the bed. The three stared at each other, none wanting to start.

"I'll start. Then the two of you can decide what you want to share. Something is happening between the two of you and I don't mean that," Giles said as he saw Faith look at the bed. "I don't know exactly what it is, but Wesley is not that good a fighter. I don't even remember Angel being that good. Well, maybe he was. But you never were Wesley. You're human."

Faith jumped up to take Wesley's hand but Giles stopped her. "Giles, wait."

"Let me finish. Wesley, I didn't mean that as disrespectful."

"Yes, you did, but go on." _Hold it together_.

"But for as long as I've known you, I've never seen this side of your personality. Authority figures mean nothing to you. Your violent tendencies are very uncharacteristic. Frankly, if I was making a guess, you're acting more like Faith than you are Wesley. No disrespect to you, of course, Faith."

"None taken. And you're right. Something is going on." Faith wanted to tell Giles everything.

 _Can I? Should I, Wes? I'm not sure_.

"Go on. What does it matter?"

"Maybe you could explain better?"

"Just tell him." Wesley hadn't yelled at her, but a chill passed through her just the same. His voice had that kind of menace to it that one didn't ignore.

"OK. We've been cursed or infected or something. We can share each other's thoughts. We are starting to share other things too."

"Wait. Start from the beginning. Wesley?" Giles was giving Wesley a chance to calm himself by talking about it.

"It all started a few months ago. Strange dreams. About Faith. The closer we were to each other, before we found each other, the more symptoms appeared. When we started to compare notes, nothing made sense. We were dreaming the same things, feeling the same pain. You know, I got the short end of the stick on that one."

"You'll live. I've felt it too. Punches to the gut? Still sore."

"Yes. He did throw some hard ones, didn't he? We can also read …"

"…each other's minds. It started off …"

"…subtle. Just a flash …"

"…here and there. Then these emotions …"

"…would just bombard my brain. I knew …"

"…something was screwy cuz I'm not like …"

"…that in any way. I've been barely…"

"…able to hold him together. He's seems to have …"

"…gotten some interesting personality traits …"

"…that I can control. But he has a very …"

"…hard time doing it. Physical contact seems to …"

"…help control Wesley. I just …"

"…hope it's enough."

Giles looked at the two liked they'd each grown another head. "Do you share her slayer strength?"

"Apparently, for the moment. What I don't know share is the control."

"Like you were in Sunnydale, Faith?"

"All raw power, no discipline." She knew they were talking about her in negative terms. But that was the old Faith.

Giles got up to pace. "How could this have happened?"

"I want to know who, Giles. What kind of thing could put us through this? Unless it was meant to be."

Wesley shook his head no. "I've already been through enough demons in the last year that thought that fate handled it all. Someone or something did this to us. I just wished I knew what."

"I don't have an extensive library here. I can ask Willow to research it. I won't tell her who. Just the symptoms."

"Ya know, I'm rethinking the theory. What if instead of us becoming two different people, we're becoming one?"

"But why?" Wesley asked.

"I mean, think about it. With my strength and your brain, virtually unstoppable. Slayer and watcher as one?"

"Faith, don't sell yourself short."

"Not doing that. But you know things that I would never be able to comprehend."

"Some kind of super-slayer then?"

"Make you all tingly, Giles. Wouldn't exactly need a watcher now, would I."

"No. Maybe not. Could be something as simple as triggering a recessive gene you both possess. Is this going to become a problem though?"

Faith thought hard. Wesley had actually calmed himself down somewhat this time. Giles' input probably had helped.

"What happens if the link is broken?" Wesley asked. "Or one of us is seriously injured?"

"Slow us down, that's for sure."

"We'll figure it out in time. Let's treat it right now as an asset," Giles suggested.

"No reason to tell our new allies," Wesley announced to the other two.

"Perfectly alright, I suppose. They don't need to know everything. Unless they're listening right now."

"Took care of that," Wesley told them. "Spell."

"Can you cast spells, Faith?"

"Nope. And I'm not tryin'. It was weird enough when the slayer healing worked on Wes's wrist."

"Just borrowed though?" Giles asked.

"Yes. Just borrowed. But considering all the fights I've been in lately, it's come in handy."

"Magicks gotten any stronger in the last three months?"

"Yes, they have. I just thought since I got considerable practice."

"Could that have anything to do with this?" Faith wondered.

"I don't know really. As I said before, research might give us some answers. I'll get in touch with Willow as soon as possible."

"My head's spinning, guys." Faith flopped over on the bed. "Baby slayers?"

"Early tomorrow morning."

"Don't you dare wake us up."

Giles moved over to the door to leave. "I just want the two of you to understand that anything you do may have an impact on that connection. Do you understand that?"

"Oh. I think he means our extracurricular activities, Wes."

"The sex?"

Giles rolled his eyes. "When will you two ever learn? Way too much information. Good night."

When Giles left, the two giggled. Faith thought it felt good to giggle. Wesley climbed into bed beside her.

"You think we scarred him for life?" Faith asked.

"One could only hope. Sleep?"

"Nah. I was just thinking how hot you looked out there tonight."

"You like sweaty guys?"

"Depends on who it is." Faith straddled him on the bed. "Seems to me that you had all the fun tonight."

Wesley flipped her, pinning her to the mattress. He lightly kissed where he had punched her earlier.

"I'm OK. See, not even a bruise."

"So if I had all the fun earlier, does that mean that you should have all the fun now?"

Wesley started kissing her jaw, and then worked his way down.

"Wes, we don't have, you know."

And he kept moving his mouth down her body. He made Faith's head spin deliciously.

"Which I don't think matters that much to you right now, does it?"

"You're talking too much," Wesley told her as he looked up at her.

"Yeah, I guess I am," she panted out.

Faith screamed, which ended all conversation at that moment.

Later on, Faith lay motionless on the bed, unable to move.

 _I will get you for this,_ she thought.

 _I'm counting on it,_ Wes told her in her mind, hand moving up her thigh.


	6. Baby Slayers

Chapter Six – Baby Slayers

"Dammit, why do I have the feeling that this is a very bad idea," Faith said out loud to no one. She had felt the need to greet the brats that morning. They were partially her responsibility. Wesley stood beside her, motionless. "You OK?"

"If you ask me that one more time."

"When you clear your mind, I get worried."

"It's a good thing, my love."

Did he just say my love?

Riley walked out to join them on the tarmac, waiting for the new slayers to disembark.

"Hard to believe there are hundreds, maybe thousands of you running around the world," Riley mentioned to them.

"Only one Faith," Wesley interjected. _Thank God_ , he added silently. Faith elbowed him playfully.

"Where's Giles?" Riley asked.

"Talking with Willow on the phone, I think. He's coming." Faith wanted to scream though, "Get off the plane already."

The door finally opened and the girls filed off, all fifteen of them. Then Xander came down the stairs.

"Oh, fuck," Faith murmured. Not him. It was bad enough Riley was standing next to her. She'd have to keep Wes away from Xander.

"Something wrong, Faith?"

"Nah, no prob."

The girls aged in range from fifteen to twenty-one. God, they were so young. But she'd been that young once too. When she'd made all those horrible mistakes. Wesley touched his fingers to hers.

Giles made his appearance as the girls walked towards them. Xander waved as he approached. "Xander, ladies, I hope that you had a nice flight."

"Giles. Long time, no see." Xander shook Giles' hand, then turned to Riley. "Hey man, didn't think I'd see you here. Thought you were in South America."

"Not anymore," Riley answered back.

"Where's Sam?" Riley flinched. Who's Sam? There must be a story there, Faith wondered.

"She left. Xander, we'll get all of you settled before we get started."

Xander turned to Faith. "Faith, looking as lovely as ever. Who's the guy who looks like he wants to rip my head off?"

"Xander, look again," Faith suggested.

"Faith, the man has at least one eye to see me," Wesley pointed out, putting his hands behind his back. Oh man, he knows about him too. No fair, Faith wanted to shout.

"No, it can't be. Will said you looked like an insane Marlboro guy, but this?"

"There's that analogy again. I don't get it," Faith said to the others.

"You know, the guy in the cigarette ads," Xander started to explain, Wesley stepping closer. "And hey, when'd you start looking so pissed off at the world. New look for you."

Xander backed up to stand next to Riley. "You ought to have seen him, Riley. Giles, the next generation before, but without the annoying tweed."

"Xander, I don't think that's a good idea," Riley said to him, obviously remembering the fight the night before.

"What? It's just Wesley."

Faith held onto Wesley's fist as hard as she could, to hold him back. Several of the slayers saw this and stepped back.

"Xander, it's not nice to taunt Wesley. He's a little different right now." Faith tried to warn the man.

"Yeah, being that demon hunter and all," Xander replied sarcastically.

"Xander, if you know what's good for you, you'll stop taunting him. Because you wouldn't like to see his other side," Giles told him.

"Yeah. Whatever. Brought the girls for you. Robin was worried that they needed an escort."

"Great. Is he going to pop out also?" Wesley growled at Faith.

"No," Xander answered. "He's still in Cleveland, the lucky dog. Too much demon activity happening."

"Well, let's get the girls settled and then we'll all talk. Xander?" Giles pointed to Riley, who motioned them all to follow.

"I knew I had a bad feeling about this," Faith mumbled.

One of the girls bumped into Wesley as they headed inside. The girl smiled at him. "Sorry. I'm Brianna. And you're . . . ?"

"Taken. Get lost, Bri." Faith had stepped in between the two. "That girl causes more problems," Faith told him as the girl walked away.

"Kind of like someone I used to know," Wesley added.

"Well, at least I know her kind. You and Giles had no idea."

"I think I do now."

* * *

Giles set up in a large conference room. Wesley stood against a wall, willing his mind to clear out. When he did this, he seemed to have more control over his emotions. It was getting easier for him. He knew it would take time to be able to focus better. He'd find a way.

"You talked to Willow?" he finally asked Giles as they waited for the girls to arrive.

"Yes, I did. I had to tell her more though. I hope you don't mind. She had too many questions that I couldn't answer. She says hello."

"How much did you tell her?"

"The basics. She doesn't know of any spell offhand to break the bond. It'll take some time to research it."

"We'll both live."

"I'm sure you will. But the one thing I don't understand is why you're having such a hard time controlling yourself? Faith seems to be fine."

"Lots of things happened in the last couple of years. Taking on some of Faith's traits, I've barely been able to hold myself together. It was hard enough before this happened."

"Willow didn't tell me much after she visited you in Los Angeles. She did tell me that Angel turned into Angelus again, which must have been horrendous. I know. I remember the torture."

"She must have left out the part where it was my fault."

"What happened?"

"We needed Angelus' knowledge to defeat the Beast, a killing machine. I miscalculated and he escaped."

"Why on earth man would you do such a thing?"

"Good idea at the time, Giles," Faith interrupted, walking into the room. "This Beast creature was unstoppable. It almost pulverized me, but Angelus knew how to kill it."

Giles pulled off his glasses in anger to glare at the two. "And you went along with all of this Faith?"

"Hey. It was the only way. It turned out fine."

"But you could have been killed."

"Yeah. Not once, but twice. Angelus was one tough, mean son of a bitch."

"You purposely let her go up against that thing." Xander had entered the room in the middle of the conversation.

Having both Giles and Xander beat up on him was like old times. The only one who never did was Cordelia. And that was because she had the hots for him. Until he had kissed her. Blew his chance with her big time. He was glad he had. She ended up being his best friend, if only for a little while.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not have this conversation at the moment." Wesley had seen the slayers start to enter. Xander had not.

"You put her in grave danger, for what? One of your many screw ups?"

"Xander, you need to back off," Faith told him.

Dawn and Connor entered too, hearing the almost fight taking place. Connor quickly made his way around the girls to stand beside Wesley.

"I don't know why you're defending him, Faith, since you had to clean up his mess."

Connor took Xander down with one punch. "Ow, damn. Shouldn't have hit him with that hand." Connor had used his newly uncasted arm, not thinking that it might hurt.

Dawn pushed the slayers aside and stepped over Xander to get to Connor.

"Dawnie," he called, but was ignored for the teen.

"Oh, baby. Are you OK?" she asked Connor. Dawn checked out Connor's arm.

Wesley stood there, motionless. It was like he was watching through a lens, not there, but seeing in from the outside. Is this how Faith felt when she was around the Scoobies? Like an outsider? Like she'd never fit in, never do the right thing?

"Didn't take his head off. I'm proud of you," Faith leaned into him to whisper.

"I didn't see the point. It was all true."

"You did what you had to do."

"As I always do. Doesn't make it right."

"That hurt. Who's your bodyguard, Wes? And why is Dawn fawning over him instead of me?"

Dawn had led Connor over to the other side of the room, one to look at his arm, and two, to get him as far away from Xander as possible. Two of the girls helped Xander up off the floor. They all had gathered around, wondering what all the commotion was for.

"Xander, this is not the time or place. Ladies, if you could please find a seat," Giles started, exasperated at the whole situation.

"You with us here?" Faith asked Wesley. "You seem so far away right now."

"Controlling myself if you must know takes a great deal of energy."

"Yeah. I imagine it does. We need you here though. You can work some of that aggression out with me later." Wesley smiled a little.

"That's not what I was thinking." He loved frustrating her. He moved in close to whisper in her ear intimately.

"After this, we do need to talk." Wesley could smell her hair, wanted to run his fingers through it. As he pulled back, Faith rubbed her hand from his shoulder to his hand.

"You can count on it," she answered with a twinkle in her eyes.


	7. More Entertainment

Chapter Seven – More Entertainment

"Now that today's entertainment is out of the way, I wanted to brief all of you on the situation," Giles was in watcher mode.

Wesley walked over to the side of the room to stand near Dawn and Connor. Leaning against the wall, he sighed as he looked at how young and inexperienced all the girls seemed. Not anything like Faith.

Faith came over to stand right beside him. Leg to leg, hip to hip, hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder, almost if he wasn't so much taller than she was.

"As all of you know, the West Coast has been taken over by unknown forces. The United States military has called us in to help them infiltrate and take out these forces. Around a month ago, I sent in Faith to the area to retrieve Buffy Summers, the original slayer."

"Kind of like the heir and the spare, huh, Faith?" Wesley whispered to her.

"No jokes."

"Not successful, I see," Xander added.

"No, it wasn't. Faith instead found these three people. They all were able to get out of there and have vital information that may help us in our efforts."

"What's so special about them?" one of the girls piped up.

"Only that they had Faith to protect them," Xander replied.

"One more remark, Xander, and I will send you packing. Do you understand?"

"Yeah."

"The girl Dawn is Buffy's sister."

Dawn waved hello.

"Mr. Wyndam-Pryce and Connor are both demon hunters from Los Angeles. Mr. Wyndam-Pryce found Dawn, then Connor, meeting up with Faith along the way. He is the only person we know of that has escaped the war zone in many months."

"You'll need to talk to them, you know." Faith was right.

"I'd rather not if that's all the same to you."

"Wesley, could you tell the girls what they'd be up against."

Giles wanted him to speak in front of them? Tell them what he had experienced in those months of terror, not knowing whether he'd live to the next day or not. But they'd die if they didn't know what they were up against.

"Most of you are used to fighting with back up?" Most of the girls shook their heads yes. "Imagine going up against evil with no one to help. LA was a no man's land by the time I was able to get out of it. Vampires, demons I had never even heard of, roaming the streets day and night, picking off humans left and right. They knew no one could stop them."

Dawn moved in closer to take Wesley's other hand.

"It took me, on my own, almost three months to make it a couple hundred miles. So much death and destruction in so little a time."

"Where are they?" Xander finally asked.

Wesley knew that he would ask eventually. And it wasn't getting any easier telling the story.

"Xander, they're dead." So Faith did it for him. "Angel got staked trying to save Cordy."

"What? While you cowered in a corner."

Wesley moved faster than Faith had ever seen the man move. She had thought that maybe the anchor that both she and Dawn had put down would hold. Wesley picked Xander up by the throat and held him airborne. The slayers gasped almost in unison.

"Put the dumbass down, Wes," Faith tried to reach him.

"They staked him Xander," Wesley stated calmly. "Going through Cordy's comatose body to do it."

Connor had heard the whole story how his father and Cordy had died, but not publicly and not in such graphic terms. Faith hoped that Dawn could handle that for the moment.

"Her blood mixed with his dust. So ironic, don't you think." Xander was gasping for air.

"Put him down, Wesley. Now." Giles had stepped in.

"When the demon's brain mixed in after I blew the fucker's head off, well, that's what made it all so surreal."

Wesley let go, Xander tumbling to the floor. He coughed and choked a little.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Xander sputtered out.

"Now you do."

* * *

As Wesley raced out of the room, he didn't know where he would go, only that he had to leave. The looks on all of those faces, particularly Connor's made him want to run and never come back. And he really didn't care one way or another what happened.

"Wes, stop," Faith yelled to him as he hurried along a corridor.

Faith ran ahead of him to cause him to halt quickly, almost knocking her over.

"Remember, we needed to talk."

"Not now."

"Yes, now."

Faith grabbed him by the shirt and literally propelled him through a door. It was a storage room for equipment of some sort. No occupants luckily. So Faith could rant all she wanted at him for his attitude back in the conference room.

"Don't ask me."

"Not gonna. I can read it as plain as day. The kid's not doing too well."

"That was not how I wanted to tell him. He hadn't known all the details until now."

"I know. But it happened. Dawn will help him, but you'll need to talk to him soon."

Wesley shut his eyes, hoping it would all just go away.

"Is that what you want? Because I'm not going anywhere, mister. What, you thought I'd bail on you when the going got tough? Like the rest of your friends did."

"They had good reason."

"Just like Angel had firing you and sleeping with Darla. And you forgave him."

"I did, in time."

"So he gets to go all broody, let lawyers get killed, and sleeps with the enemy. You get kicked out because you were trying to do what was right."

"I took his son, Faith."

"And you made a mistake. We know that. What do you think Angel was trying to do, Wes? How many people had he killed before he got that soul? Hundreds, maybe thousands. He was atoning for it. Doing good, what's right. Just like me."

"Why are we talking about this, Faith?"

"Because you can't make it all go away. Sometimes you wish you could, just for a while. It's there, always. You work through it, you try to make up for it, but it'll never go away. You have done more good in your life than I ever expect to."

"Faith, that's not true."

"Yeah, it is. But you know what? I'll make up for it, one way or another. Fight the good fight, ya know?"

Faith moved closer to Wesley. He wanted to reach out, hold her, comfort her. He leaned against a desk, trying to steady himself. She needed for him to be steady. He'd tried so hard.

"You just have to keep trying. But not for me. For yourself. Get through the day for yourself first, OK?"

"You didn't happen to get your degree in Psychology while you were in prison, did you?"

"You learn a lot in there. You with me now?"

"Yes. Thank you. I suppose I should apologize to Xander for my outburst."

"Nah. It's OK. Giles will read him the riot act. He thinks you're a psycho-lunatic now. He'll back off."

"I imagine I should talk to Connor?"

"Wait for a little while. You knew he'd have to come to grips with this, grieve. It's real for him now. Could I ask you a favor?"

Wesley looked at Faith. Since they hadn't turned the lights on, it was dim in the room. As she walked toward him, he could see the unshed tears shimmering in her eyes.

 _I need you_ , Faith said with her mind.

Wesley opened his arms up to invite her in. She stepped into his embrace, not wanting to ever let go. Burying his face in her hair, he felt those first tears fall on his shirt.

"What is it about you that makes me do this?" Faith asked him, pulling away to look at him. "I do not do this with guys, ever."

"Must be my innate ability to make every female I've ever known to feel somewhat horrible."

"Ha. You're telling me that you ever made Cordelia Chase cry."

"Maybe that time I kissed her in the library right before her graduation. It really was horrible."

"No wonder Angel got mad at you. You got to kiss all the girls."

"As a matter of fact, maybe I did."

Faith stroked his cheek.

"Brains over broodiness wins them over every time. Although you've been practicing quite a bit with the broody part lately."

Faith tried to push him down on the desk, but he was faster. Pushing everything off with a crash, Wesley scooted Faith on instead, standing between her legs now.

"And so romantic too," Faith said as Wesley lowered her onto the desk. "If you don't hurry, the next time we spar, you'll feel it."

"Like this, Faith," Wesley whispered to her. When he touched her, she almost saw stars.

"This time, watcherman, you're coming with me."

Wesley laughed. "No pun intended, I believe."

"Stop talking," Faith said as he slipped her out of her clothes.

"I like to because it gets you all hot and bothered, my love."

"All ready to boil over here."

So when he finally did touch and taste her, she boiled over much too quickly, leaving him in the dust again.

"See. Told ya so." Until he moved again.

"Again?" she sighed.

"Indeed."

And when she tightened around him a second time, he finally gave up and joined her.

They lay sprawled on the desk. "The desk is digging into my back," Faith finally told Wesley.

"I can't move. You've paralyzed me. We'll have to stay here for a while."

"Oh, when that guy who works here sees your ass mooning him when he walks in the door, you'll move."

"You didn't lock the door?"

"Nope."

Wesley was happy in her arms. Happier than he had been in a very long time. And it was all because of her.

"Not to have you go all psycho on me, but we forgot."

"Forgot what?" Wesley asked as he got dressed.

Fuck, went through his brain.

"Already did that. Not to worry. Only one time. It's cool."

"You're fine?"

"Me? Five by five, my love."


	8. Play Time

Chapter Eight – Play Time

"Time to watch the baby slayers play?" Faith asked Wesley as they headed out of their room. They had ate and rested for a while, calming both of them. One of the girls had brought Faith some of her clothes from Cleveland, so now instead of the putrid soldier green, she had on her cropped top and sweats. Wesley would be able to touch her skin without anyone seeing.

"If you don't stop that, we'll have to go back to the room again," Faith mentioned to him as they made their way to the gym.

"And you make jokes about me, love."

"We really should talk about that nickname, because you say it like it's true."

"I've never lied to you, have I?"

"Not that I can remember. Always told me like it is."

They stopped just outside the gym doors.

"Then it must be true."

"Then say it."

Faith was challenging him to say those three little words. Words that no one had ever said to him. Why should he be the first?

He walked through the doors into the gym. All the slayers were working out, sparring.

"You didn't answer my question," she called to him.

Wesley ignored her, watching the slayers. So much power in one room. His watcher instincts kicked in. "They're very . . . ."

"Raw. Untested. Some of them at least. Been getting a workout though. Hellmouth in Cleveland's been buzzing with activity."

"Who's your best?" Wesley asked as he touched her back.

"Shannon, the tall girl over there with the ponytail. Cari, the really young-looking one with the pigtails. Brianna, if she can concentrate long enough."

Brianna was flirting with Riley, who seemed to enjoy it. What was it about slayers with this guy, Wesley thought. Although she was quite well endowed.

"Don't finish that thought," Faith called to him as she walked over to the two flirting.

"Hello, Bri, Riley. Why the hell aren't you working out?"

"Odd number of girls."

"Now they're even. Let's go."

Faith led the girl out onto a mat while Wesley made his way to Riley. He loved to watch Faith move when she trained or fought. Whereas Buffy had been all grace, Faith had been all power at first. Now since Faith had matured, she'd added her own kind of grace and style to the fight.

"She's good," Riley told Wesley as they watched.

"The new girl? Needs a lot of help on her kicks."

"No, Faith. She told you what happened in Sunnydale?"

"Yes, she did. She takes full responsibility for it. How were you to know?"

"Well Buffy thought that I should have known. But here's what I don't understand."

"What is that?"

"You two, as a couple. Just strikes me as strange. You aren't alike at all."

"More the same than you know. It's complicated."

"You can say that again. Just remember to tell her that you love her every day. Messed up on that royally."

"With Buffy?"

"No, my wife." Wesley saw no ring on the man's finger.

With that advice, Riley walked away. He hadn't known that the man had been married. After being with someone like Buffy, no wonder his marriage failed. Faith? It would be quite difficult to go on after her. But should he tell her that he really did love her?

And he watched Faith go down on a kick she normally would have dodged on an average day. She didn't get up.

"Oh God, Faith," Wesley yelled as he ran to her.

"I didn't kick her that hard," Brianna informed him.

Faith's eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.

"Faith, love, are you alright?"

"Ya know, you always pick the dumbest times to speak you mind." Bloody hell, she was listening. To him while fighting. "Kind of hard not to. Big emotion flittin' around in that huge brain."

"Yes. There is that." Wesley stood.

"Don't you run from me again. Besides, help me up, big guy."

The gym was almost quiet while they watched the byplay between the two.

 _Say it again._

 _You caught me at an inopportune moment._

 _Just say it you dumbass._

 _That I love you more than anything._

 _God, you are so sappy. Thank God you didn't share that trait with me._

 _The storage room? Remember?_

 _OK, a little sappy. Only with my love. Don't tell anyone about the sappiness. Everyone's looking at us._

"I know, darling. Would you like to spar?"

"Feel some of that aggression kicking in?"

"Yes. I do believe I do."

Xander and Giles had been watching and evaluating some of the girls.

"You just want to show off," Faith chided him.

"And if I want to?"

"Hey, I was bored too." Faith circled him, ready to go.

"Don't drop your right."

"I'm fine."

"You haven't said it either." Faith threw a punch, but Wesley dodged successfully.

"Yeah, but you only said it in here." Faith pointed to her brain.

"I didn't think it was for public consumption." Wesley snapped a quick kick that Faith knocked away.

"You will say it out loud, won't you?" Another series, but nothing connected.

"Ah, Giles? He doesn't have any pads on. She'll hurt him," Xander pointed out.

"No, she won't hurt him, Xander."

"This isn't working, love. Guess I'll just have to show you." He knew Faith wanted to take him down, but he wanted everyone to know that he was no pushover.

Faith poured it on, not holding back too much.

"Mr. Giles, I don't have to spar with him, do I?" one of the girls asked. They had an audience.

"No. He might hurt you, Sarah."

"Where did he learn to do that?" Xander asked.

"Oh, if you only knew," Giles responded.

"Ready to say it?" Faith inquired.

"Make me."

"Come on, watcher. I can take it."

"He's a watcher?" Brianna looked at Giles.

"Faith's, actually."

"How come ours aren't that cute?"

"Figures Faith would get him."

"That's not fair."

The girls were not happy with Faith. Wesley had finally had enough. It had been a long, grueling, emotional day.

"Flip me so we can get this over with," he taunted Faith and she complied.

"See, finally. I knew Faith could take him."

"Xander, he told her to," Giles pointed out to the young man.

"Say it." Faith had pinned him to the mat.

"I can't deal with the audience."

"Everybody out. Now."

The girls grumbled a little, but they were all tired too. They left without too much fuss.

"They're gone. Gym's empty."

"And if I don't say it, you'll hurt me?"

"You are so bad," Faith responded, grinning.

It was now or never. He guessed that taking the chance wouldn't kill him. Might injure him if he didn't though.

"I love you, Faith," he said, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Maybe you should scream a little louder. The next county didn't hear you."

Wesley smiled up at her, since she still pinned him to the floor. Once he became himself again, he'd never be able to pin her. So his words would have to do that. It was when she leaned down that shocked him.

"I love you too, Wesley," she whispered in his ear.

Xander had stopped out in the hallway after hearing the declaration. "Giles, what in hell has been going on around here? Are we in bizarro world? Did I just hear that right?"

"Apparently so." Giles smiled. "Let's go."

"What? And not listen in?"

"Xander."

"OK, OK. Let's go. Probably scarred those baby slayers for life though. Giles Jr. in love with Psycho slayer. There's got to be a story."

"Yes. And thank goodness neither one just heard you say that."


	9. Oh, Crap

Chapter Nine - Oh, Crap

"This is so my fault. What am I going to do?" With no one to talk to, she had taken to talking to herself to pass the time. Being in human form again scared her silly. The floaty part way before had been a little overwhelming at first too. Then to be dragged back, kicking and screaming into the world had been a nightmare.

This whole situation had been her fault. She'd miscalculated, having been very new to her job. The others had told her that it was going to happen no matter what she did. So she had tried screaming at him. Stupid dumbass vampire hadn't heard her. Tried to change the odds. Didn't work or didn't matter.

The thing that had taken over her body when she had left this plane of existence had died finally with another evil thing taking its place. And every time she tried to stop it all from happening, something spoiled it.

The last straw had been Skip. He'd been sent to make sure any plan she tried to put into play wouldn't work out. Lucky for her, he'd gotten too cocky for his own good. Looking down at the scene that played out had seemed surreal.

Skip had told the gang that they had no control over their fate. Big mistake on the demon's part. Pissed everyone off, especially Angel. They were not going to let some demon tell them that their fates were sealed. Jasmine had taken away their ability to choose too. She'd meet the same fate as Skip.

The gang had thought Skip worked for the bad guys. He managed to escape them to only have a bullet put in his brain by Wesley. Hurray Wesley. Nice shot. Would have done it myself if I could.

Wes and Angel had figured out about evil Cordy too. Thank goodness, because that thing was just skanky. If she could call her own body that.

She'd tried everything at her disposal, including enhancing her friends' abilities. But in the end, Connor had done away with Jasmine. The only one who hadn't been under her influence.

Jasmine was replaced by another kind of evil. The kind of evil that pulls a previously dead, higher being back to her former plane of existence.

Cordelia Chase was screwed and she knew it. Her power was kaput. She'd rot in this cell before anyone might even think to rescue her. Hey, she was supposed to be dead, right?

"Oh, crap," was her conclusion. Up the creek without a paddle.


	10. Connor

Chapter Ten - Connor

"Connor?" Early the next morning, Wesley knocked on a door two down from he and Faith's. They had assigned the teenager a room yesterday after being released from the infirmary. Dawn's was at the other end of the hallway. Must have been Giles' choice. She'd probably spend all of her time in Connor's anyway.

"Hey," Dawn said as she opened the door.

"How are you?"

"Leg's still sore. I'll limp for a while. I got lots of sympathy from Xander."

Wesley bristled at the man's name. The events of yesterday were a great, big blur. "I'm sorry I haven't been here for you."

"Stop right there. Faith's right. You apologize way too much. It's OK, you know." Dawn invited him in. He heard the shower running behind the bathroom door. "He just got back from a run. A fifteen-mile run."

Since it was a little after eight, Connor must have gotten up quite early to accomplish that.

"He went with some of those military guys. Riley's friends. I think he needed it."

"Yes, I imagine he did. Has he spoken to you, about what I said yesterday?"

"Not much. Just been handholding. I know what it's like to lose a parent."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah. Buffy found her one day. She'd died from an aneurysm."

"I'm sorry. Must have been tough."

Dawn took one of his hands in hers. "Not as tough as having your father abandon you. My dad went to a conference and didn't come back to get me. That's why Buffy had to come."

"She's alive. The spell wouldn't have started otherwise."

"I know she is." Dawn sighed wearily. Buffy had done a great job with the girl. Now they needed to find her to tell her that.

Connor walked out of the bathroom wrapped only in a towel.

"Oh, hi Connor. Oh, I'll just be in my room if you need me," Dawn told him, flustered from Connor's lack of clothing.

"Hold on a sec. Let me throw something on." He headed back to the bathroom.

Dawn kissed Wesley on the cheek and waved goodbye. Connor came back out with a long-sleeve tee and jeans on. "Dawn left."

"Yes. She said she'd be in her room."

The two stood, awkward in each other's presence. Wesley didn't know what to tell the boy, other than the truth. Heartache didn't even begin to cover what the boy must be feeling.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday. That was not how I wanted you to find out the particulars on your father's death."

Connor sat down on his unmade bed. He twisted his hands together to give them something to do. "I knew that he died, Wes. It came out the way it came out. Everybody heard. That's OK."

"Do you want to know what happened after you left?"

"He must have hated me in the end."

How did he tell the son that the father loved him more than life itself? That Angel would have given up everything for Connor to be happy.

"Connor, he loved you very much. No matter what you did."

"Did he care, after I left I mean?"

Wesley sat down in a chair next to the bed, to be on the same level as the boy. And he really was just a boy. Holtz hadn't taught him much other than to hunt and how to get revenge.

"We tried to find you. There were no leads, you see. It was like you had disappeared off the face of the planet."

"Kind of felt like that for a while. Had lots of time to think. Be by myself. So many people always telling me what to do. Holtz, Justine, Jasmine, Cordy, the evil one, even my dad to a certain extent. I realized I just wanted someone I could rely on, to not betray me. Someone I could trust."

The boy probably thought he couldn't trust Wesley. He had betrayed his only friends for the greater good, saving an innocent child. But as Faith told him less than 24 hours ago, he needed to get past that.

"I know that I'm not the best person for you to trust, but you can."

"The stories that my father, I mean Holtz used to tell about you. How you defied Angel and took me, giving me to him for safekeeping. He painted you like some mythical figure."

"Which you know isn't true."

"Yeah, the first time I saw you with that lawyer lady, I knew he'd been a tad over the top. But you did save me."

"From a false prophecy. It wasn't going to happen. They all made me believe it would happen." He should have known Angel would never kill his own son. Holtz and the others had led him along, knowing he'd believe.

"What were you going to do with me?"

Something that no one had ever asked him. They all had assumed first that he was handing the baby over to Holtz. Once his friends had figured out that wasn't the intent, no one had put the question to him.

"Hide out until I could figure out if the prophecy was indeed true or I could break it. I was going to take you to England. Had the false passport all ready. Before I could leave though, Justine caught up with me as I was leaving my apartment. She asked for my help, saying that Holtz had beaten her. I believed her, therefore putting you in danger. You were in my arms when she sliced my throat."

"She never told me any of that. Neither did Holtz."

"He wanted so desperately to punish Angel, it didn't matter who he took down in the process. But I should have trusted Angel. I should have gone to him with my translation of the prophecy. I never really apologized to him."

Connor shook his head no. "I'm not sure why you should have in the first place. The things that Angelus did."

"Your father was not that monster, Connor."

"I know. Took me a while to figure that out. Did he love Cordy?"

Wesley knew that he did. It wasn't the same as Buffy. But Cordelia was Angel's best friend. She knew him like the back of her hand. That's why when Cordy had rejected Wes for taking Connor, he had dropped into that pit of despair. She knew Wesley like the back of her hand too. And had known exactly why he had done it. But the not telling anyone part is what made her the angriest with him.

"Yes. I believe he did. She was his best friend, Connor. You'll remember that."

"I already figured that. Listen, I don't really want to hear any more specifics right now. He died trying to save her, and that's enough for me."

"Yes. He did. Because he would have had a hard time going on without her."

Just like he'd have a hard time going on without Faith now. Were they friends? He'd like to think they were. Did he know her that well like he knew Cordelia? It would take time.

"So, what do we do now?"

"I'm not going to speak for you."

"You're going back, aren't you? Since you're attached at the hip to Faith, it would be kind of hard not to. Figured out what's up with that yet?"

"No. And don't mention it to anyone. Warn Dawn about it."

"Don't worry. And Wes?" Wesley got up to leave. The boy didn't hate him. That was a good thing. "Thanks for saving my life."

"Need I remind you about Dawn. Both Xander and Giles see her as family."

Connor opened the door to let Wesley out.

"I can take Xander and the old man. Dawn and I care for each other."

"You should really finish those conversations in private. Someone might hear," Xander said as he stood in the hallway. "What are your intentions, boy?"

"I'll let you two work it out. I have enough challenges." Wesley started to walk away.

"I'm holding you responsible for anything this boy does to Dawnie," Xander called to Wesley.

"She's not a child, Xander," Wesley told him.

"She is to me. I'm her family."

"As I am Connor's." Wesley looked at Connor to see if the declaration was acceptable.

"I am not a child, Xander." Dawn had entered the hallway too. "I turned eighteen last week or have you forgotten."

The girl had turned eighteen and no one knew. Now Wesley felt bad. "Congratulations Dawn."

"It's OK. Considering I almost blew you up that day, it was good to forget."

Wesley's eighteenth birthday consisted of a card from his mother and a full load of classes at University. Dawn had been with people who cared about her.

"So, I'm holding you all to a party after this is through. Got it?"

All three men shook their heads because they knew Dawn meant what she said.

"Not every day a girl turns eighteen. Congrats, brat." Faith had come out of her room, ready for a fight to break out. "And I just wanted to make sure no one got hurt."

"We have an understanding, Faith. It's cool," Xander informed her.

"Just as long as it doesn't involve violence," Faith answered back to the three. Connor snickered. "And I believe I missed something. Remember one thing, guys."

"What?" the three answered in unison.

"I will take each of you down piece by piece if you're lying to me."

Both Connor and Xander looked at her and shook their heads yes. Wesley just laughed.

"Hey, you laugh now, watcher."

"Time to plan an invasion," Wesley told them.

"A very sneaky one. I am so not up to riding in a car with the three of you again." Dawn looked to each of them.

"And who said you were going?" Faith said.

"Faith, very funny. Let's go." Dawn waved for them to follow her.

"Should we call her the General now?" Xander shivered at the thought.

"What? That's what I call her," Connor added.

"I heard that." Connor rushed ahead to catch up with her.

"She's not going guys. I'm putting my foot down." Xander stomped his foot for effect.

"I'm not her guardian. Talk to Giles."

"Good punt Wes. Whom'd you learn that from?"

"Angel of course. He was so good at getting me to do the dirty work."

"Which was?"

"Every time Cordelia became mad at him. Which was quite often."

Xander chuckled. "Oh God, could I tell you some stories."


	11. Torture Me, but Don't Put Me in Charge

Chapter Eleven – Torture Me, but Don't Put Me in Charge

Hell dimension this wasn't. He'd been there, done that before. This was just sheer, agonizing boredom. They'd take him out every once in a while, torture him a little, then leave him be. At least it wasn't couple hundred years of torture like the last time.

What he couldn't figure out was, what did they want with him? They weren't asking him for information, weren't threatening him for some past deed he had performed. He was purely, simply a prisoner. And it was driving him crazy.

Crazier than Cordy's screeches, crazier than Wesley and Cordy fighting, crazier than when Wes said Eureka, crazier than Fred babbling. Shoot. He couldn't think of anything for Gunn. They'd give him enough time though. Oh, crazier than Gunn's attitude. There. He thought of one.

He'd trade everything just to see their faces once again. The last months were fuzzy at best. He couldn't even remember how he'd gotten there.

Maybe he'd sing. That might drive the guards crazy. Mandy at the top of his lungs.

Things were so screwy before the prisoner thing, he kept wondering if this was all some kind of a dream. He'd wake up, be in his old apartment in the basement. And that would be that.

But that apartment was gone now, blown up by a nasty guy with maggots on his face. Disgusting. That was one of those times where he checked his hair fifteen times to make sure one of them hadn't jumped in and taken up residence. Cordelia finally yelled at him that his hair looked fine, which made him even more self-conscious.

Maybe he could wake up in his nice, comfy bed at the Hyperion then. Or maybe the couch in his office. No, Wes's office. No, wait a minute. It was his office again. Still, there was no place like home.

His home, his office, his friends, weird that they were. He'd walk in, Cordy would be manning the phones while looking at a fashion magazine, Fred would be computing the number for pi, and Gunn and Wesley would be playing video games.

But no. He sat on a stone floor, rats crawling around, no bed, no home, no friends, and most of all no Connor.

And it just pissed him off.

"You know what? That's it."

Angel banged and banged on the bar door until his legs gave out in exhaustion.

"I will be ready. You know that. And when I do, no one is going to be safe."

Ha, that'll show 'em. What, that he'd been stuck in a cell for months without anyone caring. It was better being at the bottom of the ocean.

So he'd escape, hunt down every single one of his friends, and kill them. Teach them to forget about him.

"Could someone please torture me now?"

* * *

"How do we get back in?" Wesley asked Riley as they sat down to meet.

Xander, Riley, Faith, Dawn, Connor, Giles, and Wesley sat at a table to develop strategy. They'd have to rely on the military to get them in.

"We were thinking the drop zone could be here, in the desert." Riley pointed to a map.

"Too far from where we need to be," Wesley answered back.

"Excuse me? Aren't we going to LA?" Xander added.

"We can't go in there blind." Didn't these military types get stealth? "We need to gather some reconnaissance before heading to LA."

"Wes, the longer we wait," Dawn chimed in.

"I know. But I have a plan." Wesley pointed to where the drop should be made.

"Too far inside enemy territory."

"You picked us up there, you stupid ass, you can put us back," Faith added.

"We need to be close enough, but not too close." Wesley didn't want the demons to figure out his scheme. Connor shook his head slowly. He'd already figured out part of the plan.

"Now you've lost me, Wesley. I'm not seeing it." Riley was clearly frustrated.

"What's your plan, Wesley?" Giles sat up, intrigued.

"There's an enclave, refugee camp about fifty miles south of Lake Tahoe. What's unusual about it is its population. Humans and demons."

"So not all the demons were in on the takeover," someone else added.

"I would say most of them were not. I think many of the bad ones just took advantage. Someone in that camp will know who's responsible."

"We know just the fella to ask. But maybe I should do the asking, Wes, because the last time didn't turn out so well," Faith told the group.

"What happened? You get pissed off and try to kill someone?" Xander hit it on the nose.

Dawn, Faith and Connor all looked at each other. "Well, I wouldn't say he went that far," Dawn started.

"I'll talk to him," Faith said. "Besides, Wesley is much better now."

"And he's sitting in the room right now listening. I am not a psychopath, Faith."

"Takes one to know one," Xander mumbled.

"No, you're not. We just have to convince Lorne to let us back in and help us with lots of info."

"My teams will gear up," Riley interrupted.

"No. It'll just be myself and Faith."

The room erupted in voices, each dissenting to that part of the plan. Faith just threw up her hands.

"Wait, everyone would you please listen." No one did. Wesley sat, exasperated. No one liked his plan.

Faith whistled for everyone to shut up. "OK. I am talking first because it's my ass on the line here. Wes, bad plan."

Even his own girlfriend thought his plan was bad.

"Girlfriend?" she mouthed his way. He shrugged.

"What I mean is, the part that I disagree with is the you and me. We need serious backup on this one, honey."

"If we want to move fast and silent, how are we going to do that with all those bodies?"

"She's right, Wesley. This is not the time to be worried about those girls. They've been trained well," Giles told him.

"That's not what he's worried about, Mr. Giles," Connor added.

"Then what, 'cause I'm not seeing a plan here at all." Xander sighed.

 _Kind of like an Angel plan. Pound first, ask questions later._ That was Cordy talking in his head now. Was that his plan?

 _If you try to get no one killed, you end up getting everyone killed._ Gunn was there too.

 _Fight the good fight and go down with guns a blazin'_. Fred now.

 _Just be sure you're making the right choice so we'll know where to pick up the body, if there's one left_. Angel made his appearance.

"Hey, Wes. You OK?" Faith whispered to him. Everyone was waiting for him to answer.

"Wes, it's OK. We're with you on this. We'll get them back." Wes heard 'them'. Who's 'them'?

"What did you say Dawn?"

"I said we'd get her, Buffy back. Why?"

"Nothing. How stealthy can your guys make us, Riley?"

"Pretty stealthy. That's what we do for a living."

"They were so stealthy in Sunnydale it only took us a month, maybe two to figure it out. That's 'cause they let Spike go and ruin it all."

"He escaped," Riley growled.

"All I have to say is Hostile 17. And he ended up saving the world. So ironic wouldn't you say?"

Xander was right, Wesley thought. How a being such as Spike sacrificed himself to save the world? Those pesky souls sure do get in the way. And he'd had a slayer army to back him up too. Things do work out in the end, at least for the world it did.

They sat for the rest of the day hashing out the details. Was it a good plan? Maybe. Would there be danger? Lots and lots. Would someone get killed? More than likely.

Wesley needed a drink in the worst way. Here everyone went and put him in charge again. He still wasn't sure why people kept doing that. One day they'd learn.

So Wesley slipped out without anyone seeing him, including Faith and made his way to the Officers' Club. A few patrons looked his way, but said nothing.

"What'll it be?"

"It's been a while. How about a gin and tonic."

The bartender went off to fix his drink. Wesley looked at himself in the mirror on the wall at the back of the bar. When did he ever look that mean? Maybe when Lilah taunted him. But she wanted him mean. She wanted him disgusted with himself and the world. She wanted him any way she could get him.

"I really don't know what you saw in her, Wes." Faith moved in beside him at the bar. The bartender sat his drink down in front of him.

"What'll you have, miss?"

"Whatever he's having, minus the alcohol."

"Not much of a drink."

"Not much of a drinker. Saw enough of it to last two lifetimes. You?"

"Probably drank enough to last two lifetimes."

"Never pegged you as a drinker. No, wait. Self-destructive attitude. Should have known."

Wesley took a drink and let it slide down his throat, feeling that familiar burn all the way down to his stomach. "You here to pick a fight?"

"Nah. Just following you. Make sure you don't pick a fight."

"Not in the mood."

"Ha. I'm not so sure that's the case, but what the hell do I know. Your plan, the first one was good, you know."

"Then why did you shit all over it?"

"Because I wasn't the only one in that room. I don't want to see anyone else hurt either. I would just rather go in and do this myself."

"So why don't we?"

"Not the way it works. And I like your skinny ass too much."

"Just like? And I'm not that skinny."

"OK, love. And yeah you are. Compared to Angel, you definitely are. Man does he have some shoulders on him. And his arms, huge. Gunn's aren't bad either. But you. You're all tall and lanky, sort of like a swimmer or a runner's body."

"Why are we talking about this?"

"You know, lots of stamina." Wesley sputtered his drink out. "Your mind was so in the gutter on that one."

"You said it, not me," Wesley laughed. "You keep me on my toes."

"I aim to please."

"You talk about them like they're not dead."

"Sometimes I feel they aren't. Hey, I know what you saw though. I'd just like to believe otherwise. I'm not ready to grieve just yet. Know what I'm craving?"

Wesley glared at her. "Not a word I want to hear coming from your mouth."

"Hey, don't be such a spaz. Ice cream."

"Mmm. Ice cream and gin. Yummy combination."

"Let's go find some. Maybe some whipped cream too."

"With cherries?"

"You know, I wonder why no one ever sees this side of you. Mild-mannered watcher. Reads old books all day. Then talk about whipped cream and you turn all caveman on me."

Wesley and Faith rose to leave. The bartender looked at the money Wesley left and handed it back to him. "Already paid for." Several very large guys saluted him.

"Either they were hitting on you or me. I wonder which?" Wesley wondered as they pushed out the door.

"Probably know your reputation, crazy man."

"Do you know how many times people thought that I or Angel or both were gay?"

"Hey, I always knew you weren't." Faith held his hand as they walked down a pathway.

"How is that?"

"I saw how you watched us, Buffy and me, when we worked out. And you weren't in watcher mode. You were in guy mode."

"Sorry about that."

"I'm not."

"Really I . . . ." Faith grabbed him and pulled his head down for a kiss. He deepened it, lost to her in his own little world. Faith finally broke it off when someone walked by. They'd have to be careful on their mission. People could stomp by and they'd never know.

"We really need to find that whipped cream," Faith finally said.

Wesley pulled out several wrapped packages from his pocket and smiled.

"I do not want to know who you asked for those. Too embarrassing. Besides, that's not enough."

"What?"

"May last tonight."

"Faith, I'm not that young any more."

Faith yanked on Wesley's belt to pull him close again. "We'll see about that."

"You'll be the death of me yet."

"Hey, but you'll die happy."

"There is that."


	12. Let's Get to Work

Chapter Twelve – Let's Get to Work

"We'll be going in groups of ten. Five groups. Each group will have its team leader. That's who you will take orders from," Riley stated as everyone involved with the mission gathered.

There were way too many people to count. Wesley did not want to be in charge of that many people, so he let Riley handle most of the logistics. He and Giles had sat down to discuss the slayers. They'd all go, proving their worth. An asset was an asset.

"Each group will have three slayers. My team will make up the rest. Just remember that this is a search and destroy mission, take the leader out. Get in and get out with a minimum of fuss. No engaging the enemy without proper authorization."

"Or if a vamp is breathing down your neck," Faith whispered to him.

"The vehicles we have at our disposal are bulletproof. They also run on solar energy so we don't have to rely on gas."

"We should have had one of those," Dawn whispered to Connor.

"Here are your assignments. I want everyone in their groups."

"Oh, goody. It's like summer camp but without the games," Xander added quietly.

"Those military guys are going to hate us by the time this is over, aren't they?" Faith pointed out.

"There will be no saluting going on here." Xander was on a roll.

"Faith, and you thought I had problems with authority figures," Wesley told her.

"Xander's the master. He'll listen though. Don't worry."

"Who's worried? We're going into a war zone with a bunch of teenagers and men with guns." The guns had actually made Wesley feel a little better, except the guys using them were a little too straight-laced. Demons might scare even these guys.

"My men. Standard issue equipment. That means full arsenal."

"Guns won't stop some of these things," Faith mentioned.

Riley brought out Faith's and Wesley's weapons. Even his trusty shotgun. Wesley smiled like he'd just seen an old friend.

"Not going all sentimental on us are you?" Faith asked as they started stowing their weapons on their bodies.

The military types stopped and watched Faith and Wesley. Both had their jackets on, so it made storing all of them a little easier. Knives in boots, stakes in pockets, Wesley loaded both his handguns, putting extra ammunition in one pocket. When all was said and done, the two of them could have taken on the whole squad and won.

"Sir, the weapons they have?" one of the squad asked Riley.

"Kept them alive for quite some time, Miller."

Wesley hated that they'd have to use helicopters again. To be able to stay in a group. Thank God they hadn't suggested parachuting.

"Looks like the invasion at Normandy," Giles added while they walked to the waiting helicopters.

"Didn't most of those guys die, Giles?" Xander wondered.

"Ready to go back to hell, watcher?" Was Wesley ready to possibly relive the horrors? They needed to stop this. Too many lives depended on it.

"Let's get the show on the road," Riley shouted to his men.

While Dawn and Faith were in his group, the others were divided amongst Riley's people and the slayers. Dawn had grumped at first, until Faith had reminded her she was lucky that she was coming in the first place.

Wesley already planned on leaving the girl with Lorne. With Connor there to back him up, it hopefully would not be too difficult to convince her. Otherwise, he'd just tie her up and suffer the consequences later.

The ride thank goodness was uneventful as was the landing. They hadn't picked the same spot where they had been rescued, but one very similar to it. Closer to the refugee camp though.

The squad of Riley's was efficient and fast. They had everything, including the vehicles, unloaded quickly. Getting there would be the challenge.

* * *

"Ms. Summers, how nice of you to join me again."

Buffy was brought before the big bad again. Once a day like clockwork. The guy'd send for her, they'd stare at each other and eat, then back to the cell.

The man in front of her was quite handsome, dark wavy hair, tall, blue eyes. He looked human, but her senses told her something different. Didn't smell like a vampire though.

"Now, out of all the girls in the world, why on earth would you want to converse with little ole' me. Hey, I'm witty and all, but definitely not your type."

"I think it's time I showed you."

"Finally. I was getting so bored. There's only so much you can talk about with evil."

The man just smiled. No evil laugh. No ranting about how evil he really was.

"Come with me."

She knew this might be her only chance to take this guy down. "You know, I don't even know your name, Mr. Evil Bad Guy."

He took her hand to lead her down a dark corridor.

"You really should pay your electric bill." His hand was warm, so not a vamp. Felt like a human hand. Didn't look like the Mayor, which was a big plus. "OK, so what's your deal? Big bad, power hungry guy like yourself."

A door opened before them. Figures in red robes lined the rooms. But they all still had their eyes. Good, not Bringers. Not all one kind of species. Demons, vampires, you name it, they worshipped.

"Is this a Demons Anonymous meeting? Because, hey, not a demon here."

As the man led her to the front, her tingly senses were on overload. Something up front was not of the good. The demons were chanting. Three altars stood on a platform, two of which were already occupied.

"You know, this really isn't my thing."

Buffy looked for an opening and took the first available, smashing a fist into the lead guy's face. Unfortunately one of the guys behind her had a tazer. Could she recover in time before they completed whatever ritual they were performing?

"This is so not how it's supposed to work," she heard a familiar voice off to the side. The two guys who had been behind her dragged her to the last altar.

Her gasp of surprise wasn't unexpected. The hairs on the back of her neck always did that tingly thing when he was skulking around. Only he wasn't skulking any more.

Angel lay on a slab not ten feet from her, strapped in and out like a light.

"He didn't want to play along. Now be a good dear."

Before they could strap her in though, some of her strength came back. Her body had felt so lethargic the past couple of months. Must have been drugs or a spell. For some reason that now was not the case.

She head butted one and elbowed the other. The tazer guy came running, missing her when she flipped her body out of the way. The chanting behind her became louder and louder. There was supposed to be chaos right about now. They must know something she didn't.

Knives over the first two altars started their downward motion.

"Slash her now," someone yelled from the right.

The familiar voice on the first altar screamed. Through the fighting, she saw blood on the floor. Another demon had taken a swipe at Angel, cutting deep into his stomach. The wound wasn't fatal, but it hurt her to see it. That distraction though got her a knife wound on the arm.

"Don't play with knives," Buffy called as she knocked the offending weapon out of the ugly demon's hand.

"It's not working," the big bad yelled. So this was some kind of blood ritual. "Why isn't it starting to work?"

A hulking demon backhanded Buffy, sending her crashing into a stone pillar. But before she could move, the red robed guys surrounded her.

"I have the ingredients. Each piece in place. The three, I have it right."

Buffy could still hear Cordelia sobbing from the altar. If her wound were as bad as Angel's, she'd be in a world of hurt right about then.

"The seer. I know that's right. And there's only one vampire with a soul." Buffy wouldn't tell them that at one time there had been two. It had been too brief a time. Spike had just earned it to die a fiery death saving her and the world from destruction.

"The third is strength. That equals slayer. Slayer, seer and soul will open the gate to freedom."

But there were potentially thousands of slayers running around now. She was just one of many. None of this made any sense to her.

Some minion whispered in his ear. "I know there are two, but she's the original."

This guy really not up on the history thing. Maybe lots of them running around negated the whole scenario.

The bad guy waved her captors over, towing Buffy along like she weighed nothing. "Where is she?"

"Who?" Ignorance is bliss.

"The other slayer?"

"To date, I have me 422 slayers, buddy." The demon jerked her head back to make a point.

"The dark-haired one. Where is she?"

"No idea who you're talking about."

"I could cut up your friends some more."

What? How'd the guy know about Angel and Cordelia being in Sunnydale? Who was this guy? The man ranted and raved for quite some time, sending his worshippers scrambling for cover. It looked as if they all feared him, like he had some kind of hold over them. And if she could break that hold, then life would become quite chaotic for him. She also would probably get her slayer strength back fully.

"Get the other two out of here."

The guards complied quickly. Cordelia and Angel were still alive but for how long.

"What shall we do with her, my lord?"

"Kill her. She is of no use to us any more. Find me the other one."

This was so not good news. The big bad was so off his rocker, he grabbed the nearest robed follower and squeezed his throat. The body fell to the floor.

"We have to complete the ritual before the next full moon. Find her now."

Several of the robed figures grabbed her arms to drag her away. She'd better get some strength back, or it was history for the Buffster.


	13. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Note: Remember, italics, confabs between our two little lovebirds.

Chapter Thirteen – Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

"Tell me again why this is a good idea," Faith yelled to Wesley as shots rang out for all sides of the vehicle. They had finally run into trouble, in the form of really pissed off demons. The group they had encountered on motorcycles was back.

Faith was worried until one of the soldiers produced a machine gun and started firing. The demons took off with their tails tucked beneath their hides.

"Strength in numbers? Superior firepower? Hey, works for me," Faith commented as they drove away from the carnage. No one was hurt, the demons had taken off, and they made a really big bang.

"Someone's bound to hear about this," Wesley answered.

"Not so stealthy any more, are we?" Dawn added.

"You think Lorne will actually let us in?" Faith wondered as she watched the side of the road for more trouble.

"Maybe you. I probably will have to sit in the car." So Wes was worried about his friend. He should be. Most people or demons didn't take kindly to having a gun pointed at their heads.

"Hey, let him read you. That'll make his day." Faith sort of wanted the green demon to read them so they could figure out this mess. She just hoped that Willow was making progress.

"So do I," Wesley told her.

"What? You don't like being able to read my twisted mind?"

"It's my twisted mind I'd rather keep a secret."

It had taken them all day to arrive at the compound. All seemed quiet at the moment, though one could never tell. It had been agreed upon that the lead vehicle would approach the compound first. Faith would be the one to do the talking since Lorne knew her, and actually liked her, unlike Connor and Wesley. As they pulled up to the gate, Faith squeezed his hand.

"I'll be fine. You worry too much."

"Paranoid too much is the more apt word as this point."

 _I can handle it. Lorne's my buddy_.

 _I know. I …_

 _What?_

 _I love you and be careful._

 _I always am careful._

Wesley snorted. _Somehow that statement does not instill confidence._

 _I love you too, you paranoid son of a bitch. Now let me do my job._

 _Yes, indeed._

Faith climbed out of the SUV, cautiously looking around. The same guns were trained on her as before with Wesley.

"I need to talk to Lorne." She just hoped the guy hadn't skipped out.

"Why?"

"I need information."

She heard a yell from the far side of the behemoth structure. That better be a call for Lorne instead of another motorcycle invasion. She didn't think they'd let them in this time.

"What's shakin', cupcake?"

Finally Lorne had appeared. Or his hand appeared.

"I need to talk to you. It's urgent." She didn't want to reveal anything here.

"Just as long as it's just you and not your psycho ex-watcher."

"Listen, Lorne. There is so much going on right now you wouldn't believe. He won't go all Tarantino on you, I promise. Please."

"And I can trust you because?"

"You can trust her Lorne."

Dammit, why didn't he ever listen to her? This was her deal, Mr. Buttinsky.

"Oh, but I can't trust you Wes. Sorry, one gun to the head this month is all I can handle."

"Have her sing."

"Right now?" Faith commented. _I can't sing in front of all these people._

 _You can and you will._

 _Bossy._

 _You don't know the extent of that trait._

 _One you always had_.

"Listen you two. Internal dialogues aside . . . ." Faith gasped. He heard them. How? "I'm just not sure anymore."

"Sing, Faith," Wesley urged her.

"OK, you asked for it." And Faith started belting out "Twinkle, twinkle, little star," at the top of her lungs.

Wesley grinned at his new girlfriend. Her look said it all. When this was over he was going down, hard.

"How I wonder what you are."

"Stop, stop already. My ears. And I thought Angel was bad. Maybe we should have a contest to see who's the worst."

"So, what do you say?"

"OK, OK. I see what's going on."

"Can we all come in?"

"How many?"

"50."

"People? Oh, man. Who put me in charge here?" The gate opened up and Lorne walked out. "And all I want to know is who's who?"

Faith and Wesley looked at each other.

"You two take joined at the hip to an extreme level. And I bet it wasn't the blue plate special you ate this morning."

"Any help that you can give us would be greatly appreciated." Faith could feel Wesley's calm demeanor. Maybe her guy was getting back on track.

"Bring your guys in. But the first sign of trouble, I'll have Marco kick your ass Wesley."

Faith smiled. Lorne was holding Wesley responsible for everyone. Wesley reached for her hand. Maybe not so calm as she thought.

"Come on you two."

Lorne waved them to that same building as before. It had seemed like forever since they told Lorne the truth. But it had only been a little less than two weeks. In which they had professed their feelings. Scared Faith down to her toes. Once the connection was broken, life would be different for the two.

"So what's the sitch, Lorne?"

"How's it feel to actually be the calm one here, Faith?"

"Fine, dandy. Still not all that patient though."

"And hardheaded too. Something good ole' Wes is too. Listen, you two. I don't know what's caused this to happen. I can tell you it's something not of this world. That's all I can see. I am worried though."

"How so?" Wesley's worry etched his face now. He believed the demon.

"The mind reading aside, if one of you dies, not that it's going to happen, then the other will die too. Your auras are so mixed right now, I can't see an end and a beginning in the two of you."

"I was thinkin' someone thought a super-slayer would be nice."

"Not so sure. But the link is tied so tight right now, if the string is cut, the other unravels fast."

Faith heard Riley's voice outside, yelling at someone.

"Boss?" Faith pointed to Wesley.

"Yes, dear." Wesley exited the building to find out what was going on.

"What else? I can tell you're holding back, demon."

"Faithy, sit down."

Faith eyed the demon. She could take dying. Was that what Lorne saw? What she couldn't take was Wesley dying. That better not be what he saw. She wouldn't accept it. So she sat down.

"Bad?"

"Nah. Hopefully good. Depends on you and you know who. Do you love him?"

With all her heart. "Yeah, I do. Seems strange, doesn't it. You think it's this thing we have, this connection?"

"It's all so jumbled up, I don't know. But you two share something even greater right now."

"What's that?"

Wesley walked over to where Riley was standing. "Trouble?"

"None yet. Although most of these people don't trust us. Which is not unexpected. We didn't defend them when they needed it."

Guilt washed over Wesley. He'd seen it coming. He'd been on the front lines. And hadn't stopped it. They had been so worried about the little stuff, that the big evil had escaped their notice until it was too late.

"Talked to their security guy. Guy used to be a cop. I think he'll talk shop with me."

"Good. We can use all the information we can get. Thanks."

Dawn and Connor approached along with a few of the slayers. "Your head's still attached to your body. Thought Lorne would not welcome you with open arms." Connor had his run-ins with the demon too, not trusting Lorne for quite some time.

"Faith can work wonders when . . . ." Wesley stopped short. Faith was actually trying to block him from seeing into her mind. What the bloody hell?

"You sure you're ready for this?"

"You know, just tell me. I'm a big girl. No problem."

"Congrats, cupcake."

"On what?" Man, Lorne could be cryptic when he wanted. "Because me and Wes together, that's cool, right?"

"Well, I guess you could say that. How are you feeling?"

Now why on earth would the demon ask her that? She'd been feeling a bit tired, but nothing was going to stop her from finding Buffy and fixing this big mess.

"I'm fine, Lorne. Just spill."

"It takes two to tango. And it looks like you two have been tangoing quite a bit. You think he's ready?"

"OK, ready for what? What is this, twenty questions?"

Lorne crouched down to look her in the eye. He reached a hand down to touch her stomach.

"Oh, fuck."


	14. Visitors

Chapter Fourteen – Visitors

The explosion happened so quickly, Wesley didn't have time to make it back to the building where Faith and Lorne had continued talking. He was flung to the ground by the blast. Then the shouting started. They'd never know who was friend and who was the enemy with all the demons and humans running around.

Riley pulled him up off the ground. "We need to roll. Grab Faith and that green demon."

Wesley ran for the building, only for Faith and Lorne to almost mow him down coming out the door. "We have visitors."

"And you think they could knock instead of blowing the place up," Lorne added, none too pleased. "You guys must be hot."

"Just little old us and a pack of slayers and soldiers." Faith was still blocking him somewhat. He didn't know how she was doing it. But he could see her worry etched on her face.

"We need to go. Lorne?" Another explosion rocked the compound.

"I can't leave. Believe it or not, I've become attached to these people. They didn't do anything other than get the hell out of Dodge."

"Then we stay and we fight," Faith chimed in. Which could ruin the whole mission, he thought. But could he sacrifice one group for the greater good?

"We can't do that, Wes." Faith shook her head no.

"No, we can't."

Giles and Riley were frantically trying to set up both the slayers and the soldiers to defend the makeshift city from an invasion. Wesley ran for the nearest vehicle, which had Giles and Riley crouched down beside it. It just seemed that every time something was going right, then all hell would break loose.

"We fight," Wesley announced as he came upon the two.

"We don't have a choice. Our escape route's blocked. My guys are working their way to that ridge above, see where this attack is coming from." Soldier Riley was in action now.

Most of the other people and demons had fallen back to the very end of the city. Time was crucial, Wesley thought. Another explosion rocked the makeshift barrier.

"Once they're through, the girls can help," Giles added.

"Not if they have guns." Wesley did not want to put their young lives on the line that way.

As if on cue, the barrier crumbled. Demons pored in from all sides, some with weapons, but most with superior strength.

"Hope you brought enough firepower," Wesley inquired with the Major.

"Time to find out." Riley motioned for his men to fire. Since the SUVs were bulletproof, they provided excellent cover.

As Dawn ran by, Faith pulled her down undercover of an abandoned car. "Go with the others, Dawn. No arguments."

"Just what I was going to do. What about you?"

"Waitin' for the boss to give the signal." A human ran by their hiding place, a demon hot on his heels. "Signal." Faith ran into the chaos to help. That was what she did. She helped people. Making that mistake of killing those humans hadn't changed the fact that was her job. And she'd work until the day she died trying to prove it.

So many demons made it hard for her to distinguish between friend and foe. Since most of the refugees hung back, that made her job much easier. She'd finish with one to have another one barreling down on top of her. No time to think, she threw kicks and punches at anything that moved.

What she hadn't counted on was seeing Dawn in the fray. Two mean looking Fyral demons had cornered Dawn and a few of the refugees against a building. Dawn had her knife out, slashing at the monsters, holding them at bay. That wouldn't last very long.

Faith threw off the next demon that dove for her, as she ran towards Dawn. Which meant she hadn't sensed two more huge demons coming up from behind. Dawn waved at her to look out, but they were on her in an instant. Faith took one down by breaking its kneecap, if you could call it that, making it topple. The other one wasn't so fragile, crashing her to the ground.

The last thing she thought before she blacked out was, "Fuck, that hurt." Then her world tumbled under.

* * *

The gun battle had changed to hand-to-hand combat. Wesley didn't have time to think, much less search for Faith and the others. There were just too many of them.

Although fighting with his fists had never been his specialty, the extra strength from Faith made keeping his head a top his body much easier. But at some point in time he knew his body would not be able to take the punishment Faith's did every time she came upon a creature like the ones he faced. He just wasn't built for it, borrowed abilities aside.

To his right, he saw one of the slayers go down in a fight against an evil looking beast with four arms. Rushing over to help her, he noticed that she was beyond anything. The thing had snapped her neck. A child fighting on the front lines of a hideous war made his blood run cold.

Taking out his pistol, he shot two bullets into the back of the creature's skull, watching it fall to the ground. No time to mourn the girl, he turned to take on another when the pain hit, bringing him to his knees. Then his knees gave out too. Lying on the ground, demons stepped on and over him, thinking that he had died. He couldn't move his limbs, for at that moment he was watching from afar some thing drag Faith off. He felt every rock, every bump that her body was subjected to.

Faith was either dead, or would be very shortly and he couldn't do a damn thing other than watch it happen.


	15. Alive, for Now

Chapter Fifteen – Alive, for Now

"Is he alive? You have to wake him up. Did you find her?" Connor's voice echoed in his head, which didn't seem right because he thought he had died along with Faith. That meant only one thing.

"Faith," he tried to yell, but only coming out with a rasp.

"He's waking up," he heard Giles off to the right. He hadn't gotten two people he knew killed this time.

"What happened?" came out slurred. The whole world above him was blurry. People flitted in and out of his narrow vision. Being incapacitated wasn't something new to him. He'd been hurt enough times to know what the sensation felt like. Like he was drowning without anyone to save him.

"We need to give him something for his wounds. He has to be in a considerable amount of pain," he heard an official sounding voice say.

He didn't remember any significant wounds on his body. What the hell had happened after he had passed out?

"No pain medication," he heard Connor tell the others. Good boy, he remembered. Although the pain medication might have helped him at that moment.

Everything hurt and not just his head. It was so much more pain free to be Research Guy he realized now. Maybe he'd rethink the whole Go To guy attitude. Waving his hand proved to be a chore besides just moving his lips to form a single word.

"How many down?" Giles asked from his right again.

"We lost five of yours, at least ten of mine. Three are still missing." Riley didn't sound pleased.

"Injured?"

And here Wesley thought that those were just the injured. Five young girls and ten men, including probably countless innocents had lost their lives.

"I may have ten guys that can actually walk if you include me. And you have three." The attack had reduced their numbers from fifty to fewer than twenty. He heard Giles sigh at the decimation.

"Faith," Wesley croaked out again, a little louder this time.

Giles came into view. "We're still looking for her."

Wesley pulled the older man down so he wouldn't have to shout above the noise. "She's gone. They took her," Wesley told him carefully, so Giles would understand.

"But why?"

"What? What does he know?" Connor came into view again.

"He says someone took Faith."

"Well, she's not dead, at least not yet or English Muffin here would not be yapping to us." Lorne had joined the others.

"Did you see Dawn with her?"

"No." Wesley shook his head to the group gathering. "Dawn?"

"She's missing also. Along with Brianna. Do you remember anything else?"

"Just, have to find her. Help me up. Lorne, tell them." His words were coming out in tight gasps, like there was a weight on top of his chest, constricting his breathing.

"We'll know if Faith bites the big one because soon after, it's bye-bye Wes too. We need to find her and now."

"They're that interconnected now," Giles answered back.

"What? Giles, is there something you're not telling me?" The soldier boy wanted to know about Faith and himself.

"Piss off," Wesley grunted out before falling unconscious once again.

* * *

The first thing that Faith noticed was a weight on top of her. A weight that seemed to be breathing. Who the hell was it? It definitely wasn't Wes, because the man did not ever smell like lavender.

And he was a lot harder on most of his body. It took three heaves on her part before the body on top of her rolled off. Turning with a groan, Faith moved her head to see a figure with long hair. Since it was quite dark where they were, she couldn't make out whom the person was, only that she was a she.

"OK, can my head hurt any worse?" Dawn, it was Dawn she had just tumbled off of her.

"Sorry, Dawnie. You were makin' me a pancake."

"Faith, where in the hell are we?" Dawn asked.

"Uh, language. And how the fuck should I know?"

Dawn snickered in the darkness. "There's someone else in here with us."

Faith felt around to find some hair. "Definitely not Wes."

"No, I'm thinking another girl if I'm not mistaken."

"Stop poking me," the other girl answered. "Oh, my head."

"That seems to be a theme here," Dawn quipped back.

"Cannot feel as bad as my whole body does at the moment, Bri," Faith told the other girl.

"We're moving," Dawn said, shifting in the darkness

Faith could see faint outlines of the two girls now. "We need to find a way out of here."

All three searched the box they were in for any kind of door so they could pry it open.

"Faith, there's nothing," Dawn announced.

"Let me check again," Brianna said, starting to check for a way out again.

"Hey, I've been kidnapped way too many times not to know how to get out."

"Not a contest here, Dawn. And yeah, you do seem to attract this kind of thing."

"Not that I ever wanted to, you know."

"Don't worry about it. Kept Buffy on her toes."

Dawn laughed a little. "What do you think they want?"

"Find out in a fat hurry, that's for sure. We'll be ready."

"What are we going to do?" Brianna asked, voice now shaking.

"How much experience do you have in the field?" Dawn inquired of the slayer.

"Enough." Faith knew for a fact that not much should have been the answer.

"Cakewalk, Faith." Dawn probably had figured that out too.

"We'll see about that, won't we Dawnie. Cakewalk my ass." Faith took a couple of cleansing breaths, fully awake and ready to go. Wesley was obviously nowhere near. But she could feel that he was still alive. So she concentrated just on that.

"Faith?" Brianna asked.

"Shh. I'm concentrating."

"What?" Brianna continued.

"Be quiet," Dawn implored the other slayer.

Faith could see images, flashes in Wes's mind. His thoughts weren't very coherent at the moment.

 _I'm here. We're OK. For now._

His mind heard her telepathy, but it started thrashing around, causing her a little pain.

 _You have to calm down. One thought at a time_.

 _I love you and where the bloody hell are you?_

 _I love you too sweetie and I wish I knew. In some kind of truck, going somewhere._

 _Dawn?_

 _Here. Come on, didn't you know it's Tuesday?_

 _Huh. I don't understand?_

 _Buffy joke. You OK?_

 _I'll live. You?_

 _Same here. At least the connection hasn't broken yet._

 _You're not dead._

 _Yeah, want it to stay that way too._

Faith could feel how bad Wesley's head felt. Their talk wasn't helping matters.

 _You need to rest._

 _We'll find you._

 _Close your mind._

 _I can't._

 _You will, or so help me when we get out of this, you know what will happen. Take care of yourself._

 _My job is to take care of you._

 _I'm a big girl you know._

 _My girl._

 _Always, big guy._

Wesley's thoughts faded somewhat as they both eased off the mental connection. She could feel him in the back of her mind, always there, but not taking up all of her brain.

"So?" Dawn finally asked.

"Guys aren't even near us."

"Connor?"

Faith had forgotten to ask. Wesley would have been royally pissed off if the kid had bitten the dust. "Alive. That's all I know."

"What did you just do, Faith?" Brianna didn't know the truth.

"Luckily, my ace in the hole. Just have to stay alive long enough to use it."


	16. Don't Go All Angel on Us

Chapter Sixteen – Don't Go All Angel On Us

"Back to the world of the living," Lorne stated when he saw Wesley open his eyes.

"We have to go," Wesley said as he tried to get off a cot.

"Hold your horses Mr. Bashed in the Head. We need a plan first. Remember that? That's what you used to do. Don't go all Angel on us."

"Plan? My plan is to go in and beat the bloody daylights out of whoever took Faith."

Giles sat down next to the younger man. "We don't know who took her or why."

"Doesn't matter."

Wesley stood up quickly, looking around for his weapons.

"OK, Lone Ranger, sit down before you fall down." Lorne pushed on Wesley to make him sit. If it had been a year ago, Wesley would have either sat down because it was the right thing to do or he would have toppled over anyway. Not this Wesley.

"Get out of the way."

"You know, Angel, bad influence. And also, we have info, so sit."

Wesley glared at the green demon.

"Sit down man before you fall down." Giles took an arm and dragged him down beside him on the cot. Wesley had never seen Giles look so beat up in his life. Even after all the business with the Mayor in Sunnydale, Giles never looked that worn down.

"What do you know?"

"Only that this attack was for one purpose only. To take you guys out."

Wesley figured as much. Lorne had let them in, so the whole group suffered the consequences.

"And if you're thinking your fault, don't. We've had these raids at least once or twice a week. This one was just a little more powerful. We captured one of the demons. Soldier Boy's men are speaking with him right now."

"Where?"

"I'll take you to them." Lorne was waving at Giles to not, but Wesley moved faster.

"Not a good idea."

"It's Wesley. He's a civilized human being," Giles stated as he followed Wesley out of the tent.

"You don't know the things he did before this little connection happened with Ms. Slays-a-lot."

Giles stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"Let's just say, learned from the master, have the souvenirs to prove it."

"Angel?"

"Think darker," Lorne told the man as they walked to catch up with Wesley. "Much darker."

"Yes. I know a bit about that darkness, souvenirs and all."

Wesley entered a tent that had Riley's men guarding it. They let him pass, thinking that the man might be able to help. He grabbed the first available weapon he could get a hold of from someone's holster, continuing on to the demon.

"Wesley, I was just coming . . . ." Riley wasn't able to finish the statement because Wesley leveled the gun he had taken and pointed it at the demon's leg and fired.

"We don't have time," Wesley started as the demon groaned in pain.

"That's not how we operate," Riley charged at Wesley.

"Stay out of this." Wesley brought the gun up to the demon's head.

He noticed out of the corner of his eye several of Riley's soldiers had entered the tent, guns drawn to check out the commotion.

"If you kill him, we can't get the information we need, Wesley," Giles yelled from the entrance.

"Where is she?" Wesley calmly asked the red-eyed demon, whose blue scaly skin seemed to be turning even more blue with the loss of blood.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" the demon told him in a low, deep voice.

"Your people kidnapped her for a reason. Where are they taking her?"

"You might want to answer him, blue guy." Lorne had come into the tent too.

Wesley then pulled out a nasty looking knife from his boot. "Now, we'll try that again. Who are you working for and where is she?"

Wesley was lost. He knew he had to find Faith. He didn't care what the others thought of him at that moment. She was all that mattered to him. When had he become so ruthless? In Pylea when he had to take charge, sacrificing many for the good of everyone, or had this always been inside of him, hidden. Faith was the objective. The thing that he could focus on, the person that he cared for more than anything at the moment was gone. This demon would tell him what he wanted to know, regardless of the consequences.

"Sir, should we take him down?" one of the soldiers asked Riley, pointing a gun toward Wesley.

"Hold up," Riley ordered.

"Wesley, this isn't how we do these things. He'll tell us." Giles was really trying to pull him back from the edge. He figured that out. Without Faith there to guide him, it would probably be impossible.

This was Faith's life. This was every one of his friends that had died over the last couple of months. His family. The knife he was holding dug into the demon's skin on his neck. As Cordy would say, "Desperation, meet Wesley."

"They'll kill me."

"Don't worry. I'll take care of that right now." The knife dug deeper. Blood, bright red blood flowed down the demon's arm.

"They need her for some ritual. At least, that's what they told my boss. Now let me go."

"Where?"

"LA. Just said the dark-haired slayer. Take 'em all out and get her."

"You took out that many people to get to one person?" Riley was even disgusted.

"And for the fun."

Wrong words. Wesley drew the gun up to the demon's head and pulled the trigger this time.

"Oh dear," Giles whispered to Lorne.

"You caught him on a good day, Giles. Besides, my people would have done the same thing."

"War is hell."

"Agree with you on that one."

As Wesley walked out of the tent, he had to find the control that had just slipped badly. His body was saying hit something, anything, while his mind was saying run. Now he knew how Faith had felt in Sunnydale. The thing that he had never understood about her until that very moment. She had wanted someone to care about her. Like Giles had with Buffy. Not just a boss or a mentor, but a human connection. No wonder he had failed in his duties. Because he should have thrown his duties out the door and listened, really listened to her.

When he had finally listened to her, fighting to jail Angelus, he had gotten through to her on some level. It hadn't been perfect, but it had been a start. Stick up his ass indeed.

"Are we ready?" Wesley directed the question to Riley, since they all had followed him out of the tent.

"Ten men, three slayers. Connor, Xander, Giles, you. That's all that we have left."

"And me," one of the other slayers, Cari, waved to them.

"I'm good to go," another said, stepping into view.

"So that's nineteen."

"Twenty with me. You're going to need all the help you can get," Lorne piped up. "I might know of a way in once we get close to LA."

Connor threw Wesley his shotgun. "Let's go."

"Move 'em out people." Riley gave orders to the remaining wounded men to secure the area with the help of the refugees. Xander walked up to Giles and Lorne.

"I see you're alright," Giles inquired.

Xander pointed to all his bruises. "Been through worse. What's with Rambo and Rambo Junior? Those two are very scary together. And where's Dawn by the way?"

"With Faith, from what I gather from Wesley."

"When I catch up with those demons, history."

"So, plan," Connor asked Wesley as they gathered the others around to leave.

"They need Faith for some ritual."

"Why'd they take Dawn?"

"Must have gotten in the way, I guess. Faith will keep her safe for as long as she can."

"We've wasted too much time here. Let's go. You and I."

Wesley looked at the young man and nodded no. How much would he like to ditch the rest of them? Greatly. But if they hadn't been there today, the whole place would have been overrun.

"We stay with the group for now."

"Ready?" Riley waved to the ex-watcher.

Wesley touched Connor's shoulder and motioned him to get into the vehicle to leave.

TBC


	17. Survival Instincts

Chapter Seventeen – Survival Instincts

 _Hey, watcherman. You there?_

They'd been driving for some time, heading south. Wesley had nodded off for a while, trying to catch a little sleep because it might be forever before he could again.

 _Resting a little, you?_

 _Still being bounced around like crazy. I think we're heading south._

 _LA, I think. We interrogated a demon._

 _Oh. What'd you do?_ Faith could feel the emotions pore off of him in waves.

 _Pardon?_

 _Blew the fucker's brains out, didn't you. Welcome to Faith's School of Torture._

 _No, you made it last longer. I'm much more impulsive than you on such things. Always have been._ That one hurt her. The issues they still had with each other would have to be dealt with as soon as possible.

 _I can't believe we're having a conversation in our heads about this._

 _Well, if Giles doesn't have me sent off to an institution after this, I'll be lucky._

 _Not like he's some prince or anything. Buffy told me some stories. And he tried to kill Spike against Buffy's wishes._

 _Interesting._

 _Stupid if you ask me. We fucking needed him._

 _Not something you hear every day._

 _What?_

 _Someone needing Spike._

 _I need you._

 _Likewise._

 _Do you think it'll change after we figure this out?_

 _The connection?_

 _No, our feelings._

 _If I had to take a guess, I'd say no._

 _And you're so smart._

 _I have it on great authority that I have a very large brain among other things._

 _Pervert._

 _Thank you for the compliment._

 _Anytime. And oh honey?_

 _Yes, dear?_

 _Once we're out of this mess, we have some other issues to discuss._

 _Absolutely. As always._

 _And don't think that you'll be able to walk for a week after this is over._

 _Now the threat of taking me down._

 _Not gettin' it, are you?_

 _And who's the pervert now?_

 _Only guys can be pervs and what do you think I was talking about._

 _Your mind is perpetually on the subject._

 _Not your mind I'd like to be on right about now_.

"Hey, you know, snickering to yourself just makes you look even more insane than you really are," Xander told Wesley as he patted him on the back.

"I'll tell Faith you said hello."

"Excuse me?"

 _Xander says hello._

 _Don't talk to him._

 _Why? Oh, another one._

 _You know, I really don't like this mind reading stuff_.

"OK, how can you talk to Faith?" Xander was prying. Riley was all ears.

"Some kind of psychic connection."

"No wonder you've been able to be all slayeree and scary I might add."

Connor snorted and looked at Xander. "He was pretty scary before all this."

"Working in a big city must change a person," Riley added.

"Working with Angel changes a person."

"You and psycho slayer. Tried to strangle you yet?" Wesley chuckled. So Xander and Faith did have a past. Together. He'd have to ask Giles next. Nothing would surprise him.

Faith and sex. Two words that went together. She personified the word. The way she dressed, the way she moved, and the way she talked. No wonder every guy turned their heads when she walked by, even though she could be quite scary herself at times.

At least she hadn't required the wooing part he hated so much. She didn't require the talking and getting to know each other pretenses. The very thing he sucked at.

Women tended to leave him tongue-tied. Especially beautiful, confident women. A dork, as Cordelia so aptly put it. But he had finally thrown off that persona for another, much different one because of Lilah. She had pursued him, not the other way around. And had finally won out in the end. First time for him. Which gave him all the power over her. Oh, she tried to tell him that he actually needed her. Frankly, he really hadn't needed her other than to bury himself in misery. In some weird way, he'd come to care for her. Something had made him want to redeem her. He thought since she made him feel something in the pit of despair he was in, that he would find some way to help her. Help that she didn't want and ultimately rejected.

He could have never trusted her completely, never have really gotten to know her. But trusting Faith now was what he was doing. Did she trust him? Trusting her had become much easier when she had followed his lead in Los Angeles. He had used some questionable practices, but she trusted his plan would work. Not that she didn't question his methods. He would have expected no less from her. If she hadn't, that would have worried him.

Now she was gone, and he needed to control himself without her help and trust. Needing to put his head to the task at hand would take all his mental strength.

* * *

"We're stopping," Dawn called.

They had been traveling for hours without a break. Brianna now was visibly shaking in her boots.

"Bri, pull yourself together. I've been in worse situations than this." At least there wasn't thousands of ubervamps crawling all over.

When the crate was opened, Faith saw that it wasn't good. At least thirty vampires surrounded them as they climbed out.

"So much for being ready," Dawn quipped.

"Mmm, lovely slayers." One of the vampires started sniffing Brianna. "You will be a great sacrifice to Columba."

"What, what do I do?" Brianna asked the older slayer.

"Just sit tight." Their chance hadn't come yet.

The vampires tied each person's hands, and then led them down into the sewers.

"OK, this is gross." Dawn was getting on her nerves. Maybe she was getting on their captors' undead nerves too.

"Why don't you just shut up?" Faith told her.

"What's your trauma?" Dawn shot back with a wink.

"My trauma is you, you little bitch."

Faith turned to Dawn and got right up in her face. The look of shock on Brianna's face said it all. She believed the two.

"Don't get in my face," Dawn yelled.

"You're going down." With that comment Faith knocked Dawn to the ground. They rolled over and over like they were trying to hurt one another.

"Stop them," the lead vampire told the others.

Squirming out of handcuffs had never been much of a challenge for Faith. The lame knots that her captors had made weren't a challenge at all. By the time the vampires knew what hit them, Faith had taken down three of them.

"Go," Faith yelled to the two younger girls, knowing she could only hold them off for so long. She tried to block the other vampires before they could run after the girls. Dawn immediately complied, but Brianna hadn't moved a muscle.

"Get the fuck out of here," Faith screamed again, taking on four more.

Fighting in close quarters wasn't new for her. The sheer number of undead bodies was. At some point, she'd be overwhelmed. But if one of them got away, she could lead the good guys back there.

Brianna finally complied, but it was too late. Two vamps took her down. Having her hands still tied behind her back was a hindrance. Hands on training in real scenarios would be at the top of her list on slayer training if they got out of this mess in one piece. Controlled circumstances just sucked.

Two more ran off after Dawn as Faith was taken down by at least six. She prayed that Dawn's survival instincts would kick in. They had to. She was their only hope of getting out of a very sticky situation.

* * *

Dawn ran as hard as she could in the sewers, all thoughts of the grossness were put away. Annoying the vamps had been the goal. Faith had played along and made it possible for an escape.

Needing a place to hide, Dawn searched for any kind of nook or cranny in which she could cram herself. Hopefully they wouldn't be able to smell her fear, just the awful sewers.

Dawn almost screamed when a hand snaked out and caught her around the waist. She whirled around and clocked whatever grabbed her hard on the head.

The figure growled a little, and then put a hand over her mouth to keep her from making any sound. The hand was warm, and she realized human. So the first thing that came to mind was to bite it. When she did, a mild yelp came out, but nothing else.

The human still didn't let go of her waist, so she struggled until she heard the vamps come closer. Her body froze at the sound.

"Where'd she go?" one of her former captors yelled.

"This way," the other pointed in the opposite direction.

As they ran away, Dawn kicked the human in the shins to break the contact.

"OK, now that hurt," a faint voice told her in her ear. "Be still. I won't hurt you."

"Heard it before," Dawn whispered.

The human let her go. As she turned around to see him, because she could tell by the voice it was a he, she almost laughed. The guy wasn't any taller than she was. But when she looked into his eyes, a chill went down her spine. Now she was scared.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," the man said in a slight southern accent.

Dawn started to back away.

"Lindsey, what the hell is takin' you so long," another voice whispered down the corridor. A huge black man came into view.

"Found this girl. Vamps were chasin' her."

"Hey, how'd you get down here? Cuz this ain't no place for a little girl."

The two men moved closer to her. "You're not going to hurt me?"

"Listen, we need to get out of here. This place is crawling with vamps. Come on."

"Why should I? I mean go with you."

The big man shrugged. "Cuz we're the good guys in this. I always tell people that. Why don't they believe me?"

"We promise," Lindsey added.

Indecision. Dawn didn't know what to do. On the one hand, the two could be telling the truth. On the other hand, they could be like the men who attacked her in the abandoned building.

"Weapon. I need a weapon."

The big man automatically handed her a knife. "Satisfied? Let's go."

Dawn whipped out her cross necklace and put it on each man. "Not vamps."

"Thank God for that." Lindsey grinned.

"The first wrong move."

"Yeah, yeah. We know. Why do they always say that?" The big man motioned her to move forward.

"After you." Dawn still didn't trust them. Being behind them was the only safe option.

"Suit yourself," the big man called as he started moving.

"What's your name?"

"Oh, this here's Lindsey. He used to be some smartass lawyer. I'm Gunn. Charles Gunn."


	18. Psycho ExWatcher

Chapter Eighteen – Psycho Ex-Watcher

The knife clattered loudly to the ground. Dawn couldn't believe her ears.

"You're, you're dead," she stuttered.

Gunn patted himself. "Very much alive and I intend for it to stay that way."

"He said that you were dead."

Gunn stopped to stare at her. "Who?"

"He'll freak when he finds out. If he finds us that is. Not that he isn't already a little psycho, but Faith can calm him down."

"Wait a sec," Gunn said, grabbing Dawn's arm. "You know Faith. I only know one Faith. About yay high, dark hair, killer body, calls herself a vampire slayer. That Faith?"

"She's in jail," Lindsey added.

"Got out. Wes broke her out because of some stupid ass problem he created. Then she went and helped that other girl save the world."

"Buffy." Dawn wished Buffy were there right now.

"So, who are you?" Lindsey asked.

Dawn heard a familiar growl over the two men's heads.

"Behind you," she screamed.

Gunn was prepared, bringing out a stake to dust the first vampire to charge. Lindsey took out the other one quickly and efficiently.

Gunn took Dawn's hand to run. "Time to leave. What's your name?"

"Dawn Summers."

Gunn gave a look of recognition and shook his head. As the three ran as fast and as quietly as they could, Dawn couldn't believe her luck. She'd run into people who could actually help her.

"Where would they take prisoners?" she whispered, panting from all the running.

"They don't take prisoners."

"Well, they do now, because those vampires have Faith and Brianna."

"Dammit, they must be going to do the ritual again. Faith fell right into their hands," Lindsey said, clearly angry.

"Girl, let's move a little faster. We have a long way to go."

Dawn drew to a halt. This was not happening. They wanted Faith for some ritual. And it always meant blood would be spilled. Just like her blood had been spilled before to open the gates of hell.

"You need to tell me what's going on? Faith is back there somewhere. We have to rescue her." Dawn started to turn back, but a hand caught her.

"They're not ready for the ritual yet. We have time. We just can't go charging in."

Which is exactly what Wesley would do. If the number of vamps at their little reception was any indication, he'd be walking into a huge army with no backup.

"We need to figure this out. He'll go charging in without a plan and they'll all die."

"OK, the suspense is killing me. Who the hell is he? Kind of sounds like that dumbass vampire I work with. Who, by the way, when I catch up with is gonna get his ass kicked."

"He's dead. Angel's dead." Dawn had heard the story enough to know he was.

"Nah. Weirdo priest needs him for the ritual too."

Dawn smiled. Gunn was alive, Angel was alive.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Buffy is, by any chance?"

"Yeah, she's at our base. I swear," Lindsey answered.

Buffy was alive. Not being able to scream her joy, she kissed Lindsey on the mouth instead.

"This is so not happening," Dawn finally said as she came up for air.

"You know, that was just not right, man. The slayer sees you hittin' on her sister, you're dead."

"But I didn't." Lindsey was flustered. Dawn felt great about herself that she had been able to fluster at least three men in her life.

"Don't worry. Wes will kick your ass for her."

"What did you say?" Gunn asked her.

"He's alive. And coming for us as we speak. If he doesn't get himself in trouble first. That man attracts trouble like flies."

"This is the same guy we're talking about. Skinny, English, about my height."

"Yup."

Gunn hugged the girl tightly, swinging her around. "Can't breathe here. What is it with you people? Too much touching."

Gunn chuckled. "Let's get the lead out, people." He directed them to keep moving.

* * *

A pain in his chest jolted Wesley out of his slumber. He tried to establish a better link with Faith to see what was happening with her. She forcibly blocked him from seeing but he could still feel each blow to her body.

"Stop the car," Wesley growled out. Hit, pummel, slay raced through his mind.

"We can't stop now," Xander told him from the backseat.

Wesley turned around in his front seat to punch Xander in the nose. Riley slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop.

It had become dark outside, the moon casting long shadows on the broken roadway. Wesley knew deep in his mind they shouldn't stop. They'd be targets for any vampire or demon out that night. But the urge to hurt something so overwhelmed him, there was no control at the moment. Because as soon as Riley slammed the vehicle to a stop, he was hit with a flying fist too.

"What the fuck?" Riley screamed at him.

Before Riley could do anything else, Wesley had his hands on him, trying to rip him out of his seat. The other vehicle pulled up beside them to see if there was a problem. Seeing the commotion inside, Connor leapt from the other vehicle, throwing Wesley's door open. A fist soon crashed into his face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Riley managed to get his seatbelt undone so he could defend himself against the crazy Englishman beside him. Three of his men reached in to pull Wesley out, but Riley came out also since Wesley's hand was attached to his throat.

Pure, unadulterated violence pored through Wesley's veins like he had been infused with some magic potion. He wanted to pummel Xander for all of his cruel remarks about Faith and the fact that he had slept with her. He wanted to choke the life out of Riley because of his indifference to Faith. Hell, he would have noticed that Buffy was not acting right. The man took advantage of her.

They finally pried his fingers from around Riley's neck and sent him to the dirt. Then he saw Giles. Better late than never to ask the older man about his relationship with Faith.

"Wesley, get a hold of yourself," Giles urged him.

"Be careful. He's not himself," Lorne yelled from the other car.

Wesley laughed at Lorne's comment. "Oh, I know who I am, Rupert. So, you have a go at her too. Seems I was the only male in Sunnydale who didn't."

"You're not in your right mind," Giles calmly told him.

"Oh, that's right. You got your jollies by ridiculing my every move instead of helping to rein those girls in. Faith killed that man and all you could think about was Buffy. Why was that, Rupert?"

"I was worried about Faith also."

"And I was left to clean up the mess." Wesley slowly arose from the ground and moved closer to Giles.

"None of what happened was my fault or your fault for that matter. Faith was responsible for her own actions."

"Oh, Rupert. You were so wrapped up in Buffy, you left Faith out in the cold. It wasn't Faith you were shagging."

Giles landed a blow that took Wesley down to his knees. "Ow, that hurt. You bloody well knew what kind of situation I was coming into. Did you and Buffy have a good laugh at my expense?"

The next blow knocked him over onto his back and out for a few moments.

"If you really hurt him, Giles, you'll have to explain to Faith what you did," Wesley heard Xander say. Wesley shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Back to the land of the living, again. You know, maybe we should just tie him up and throw him on the roof rack. What'll you say?" Lorne laughed, wanting to lighten the situation.

Wesley had no idea what Lorne found so funny. His jaw felt like it might have been dislocated.

"Don't tempt me," Riley growled from a distance.

Giles bent down to look at Wesley. "What happened, Giles?"

"You don't remember?"

"No. All I remember is waking up. Faith was fighting, I think. I'm not sure. Then nothing."

"Great. Amnesia too. Look around you, bub," Xander pointed out.

Wesley looked around at Xander's bloody nose, to a bruised Riley to Connor sitting in the dirt.

"I did all of that? Oh dear."

"Yeah, and you just ranted at Giles. OK, how unfair is that, huh?" Xander said, cleaning up the blood.

"Handcuff him. You're not going ballistic on me again," Riley sneered at him.

"It's perfectly fine now. They knocked her out."

The three men who pulled him out of the vehicle in the first place moved in.

"I'll take care of him. Put him with me. He'll be OK. He's not going to freak out with your soldier boys Riley." Connor stood in front of Wesley now, ready to protect him.

"Good plan, Connor. Just keep him under control until we get there," Giles agreed.

"What did I say?" Wesley asked Connor as they climbed back in their vehicle.

"Something about shagging the other slayer, Buffy."

"You're lying. What on earth would possess me to say something ludicrous like that?"

"Not lying."

"Well, he'll never speak to me again, that's for sure."

"I'm not so sure I'd want him to. They must have really done a number on you in Sunnydale."

"Well deserved. I was a pompous ass to the nth degree."


	19. Reinforcements

Chapter Nineteen – Reinforcements

As Faith came to, she noticed how cold her limbs felt. Raising her head proved to be a challenge because it pounded relentlessly. And whatever was left in her stomach wanted to make a reappearance.

Dammit, she was sick and tired of this nonsense. Those demons had another thing coming if they thought they'd break her. She wished she knew where they had taken her. The link with Wes was still there though. And it had gotten a little stronger from the last time they had talked mentally.

Stretching her muscles, Faith arose to look around her cold cell. She looked for a way out and found none. The bars were solid. Much more solid than they had been in the prison she had been incarcerated. She always wanted to tell those yahoos that she could smash out of those without breaking a sweat. Solitary confinement was not her goal though.

A figure in a red robe walked down the corridor to her cell. Thrusting food through the bars, it retreated without a word. Kind of like the guy was in a trance. What was it that Wes said? Demons who had blood vengeances were working together. That was it. What if they weren't doing it under their own free will?

Yeah, kill the leader, break the hold. All chaos breaks loose and I go down in the process. Great plan. The one that says 'I'm so dead'. But what other plan could she think of?

The one thing that worried her at the moment was her strength. Her body just didn't feel the same. Like she'd been zapped of most of her power.

Which meant no touching the food or any other foreign substance, unless she absolutely had to. But that even scared her more. She couldn't go that long without food or water, especially not the condition she was in now. There had to be a way to get out of this prison. Always was a way and she had to find it quickly.

* * *

Dawn had been moving for hours in and out of the disgusting sewers without any breaks. The two men kept up a brutal pace, which left her exhausted, leg throbbing. But thoughts of finally seeing her sister again made her put one foot in front of the other.

They had mostly kept quiet so as to not attract any more attention. The sewer system seemed to have a life of its own. Creatures of all shapes and sizes moved around like it was their own city.

"Up we go," Lindsey announced as they rounded a bend.

Gunn climbed a ladder and opened a trap-like door. He motioned for Dawn to follow. Lindsey brought up the rear.

They were outside again. The sun had just arisen in the east bathing a warm glow over the landscape. Before them was some sort of industrial area.

"Where are we?" Dawn whispered.

Gunn put up a finger to shush her. Must still be in danger, she thought. As they traveled in the fresh air, they mostly kept to the shadows of the buildings. Dawn saw no one. But for some weird reason, she felt that there were people all around her. And not just the two men.

Gunn finally waved her through a door of an abandoned building, shutting it quietly behind them. She heard the distinct cocking of a gun, halting their forward progress.

"It's Gunn. I'm back."

The person holding the gun immediately backed off a little.

"Step into the sunlight," the voice called. Through the windows, there was a sunbeam that hit the ground right before them.

"You first." Gunn wasn't taking any chances.

The man with the gun complied. Gunn then stepped into the sunlight. "Come on, little girl. Your turn."

"Not a little girl, you know," Dawn stated as she walked into the sunbeam. Lindsey shortly followed.

"Hey man. Any word?" Gunn asked as the man led them to a set of stairs that went down.

"Lots of movement. I think something big is going down. But the guy's power is slipping. We made at least three trips inside their zone with no detection."

"Yeah, well, plan's changin'. He just got the last piece."

Dawn's brain was dizzy with the corridors and stairs they traveled, plus the hunger, til finally they came upon more people. Lots more people. The room that Gunn had led them to was teeming with people.

"Come on, Dawn. Let's find that sister of yours."

That cheered Dawn up immensely. She didn't think she could take losing her sister again. Not so soon after losing Spike and Anya in the battle with the First.

"If we send a squad in here."

Dawn heard her voice before she saw her. Since Buffy was so short, lots of bodies blocked her view. But she'd know that voice anywhere.

"Hey, slayer. Brought a present for you," Gunn called out.

"Now what could you bring me . . . ." Buffy stopped when she saw her baby sister. "Dawn?"

"Hey," Dawn said, tears shining in her eyes. "Not Tuesday, you know. Got out of trouble myself this time."

Buffy ran and threw her arms around her sister. Dawn had never been so happy in her life.

"I'm so sorry I didn't come back for you," Buffy told her, crying now too.

"It's OK. I know it wasn't your fault. Wes found me and got me out of there."

"Who?" Buffy asked, a little baffled.

"So, English saved your ass. Wonder where he disappeared to. Thought he was dead."

"And likewise. He thought you were dead too. The hotel had burned to the ground by the time he got back."

Gunn wiped his hand over his face. "He thought we died there?"

"Found some charred bodies. Just assumed that it was you."

"OK, OK. Start from the beginning. Where have you been and what is going on Dawn?"

"Oh, I'm here to rescue you." Gunn, Lindsey and Buffy laughed at that. "Well, that was part of the plan. The part that actually worked out in a weird way. Wes kept asking everyone why they put him in charge."

"His plans are usually pretty solid,' Gunn added.

"Oh, do I have lots to tell you."

"This isn't Wesley we're talking about, because he couldn't plan his way out of a paper sack." Buffy had hit a nerve. Dawn glared her best unhappy face at her big sister.

"As I said, Buffy. A lot has changed."

"Still mean as a snake?" Gunn asked the girl.

"Oh yeah, with lots more weapons and strength. Kind of scary if you ask me."

"Wait. This isn't the same watcher you're talking about. He'd trip over his own two feet." Buffy still didn't know.

"The stories I have for you guys." Dawn was pleased with herself. She'd found her sister, lots of allies, and hadn't gotten herself killed.

"Not now, Dawn. We need to plan. Tell me what you found, Gunn." Buffy brushed her off, sitting down at a table that held blueprints.

"This can't wait, Buffy," Dawn urged her.

"Nah, it can't. She's right. These stupid priests managed to capture Faith. The ritual is on," Lindsey announced.

"See. Told you. Are you ready to listen?" Dawn stood up straight so that she could tower over her sister. She may not have the power, but she sure did have the height.

"Girl has info. Spill," Gunn told her as he had a seat.

"Well, it all started when Faith came looking for you and me. She ended up finding me, and Wesley and Connor."

"We have been lookin' all over for that boy," Gunn said.

"Shh," Buffy told him.

"Giles fool heartedly sent her in to find us. Wes got us out. We assembled a strike team and came back in."

"What? He let you come? What moron?"

Dawn didn't know if Buffy meant Giles or Wesley. Gunn put out a finger to shush the slayer.

"Not a moron, Buff. We were ambushed just outside of Tahoe. They obviously had been looking for Faith."

"Yeah, since it didn't work with me," Buffy said a little gruffly.

"Not a contest, Buffy," Dawn reminded her.

"I assume some of them survived the assault and are heading here. I know that Wesley and Connor did survive because Faith told me so."

"OK, all I have to say is, huh?" confused Buffy said.

"How would she know if she'd been kidnapped along with you?" Lindsey wondered.

"Wesley and Faith have developed some kind of telepathic link over the past month."

"Yeah, right. Psycho-slayer Faith and her ex-watcher that she tortured. Doesn't make a lick of sense." Gunn was a non-believer.

"The problem right now is catching up with the team. They'll walk right into this mess and get captured or worse, killed."

Gunn shook his head no. "We'll find them. Got my people ringing the city now. Not gonna let that happen."

"Just be careful. They're armed to the teeth and Wes could go off at any moment."

"What's wrong with him?" Gunn asked, concern etched on his face.

"Well, in addition to this telepathy thing, he sort of turned into the psycho-slayer Faith. You know, like she was in Sunnydale. So they share everything, including her strength. But with Faith not there to control him, I'm not sure what's happening."

"Could any of this get any weirder?" Buffy wondered.

"Scary considering that Faith had the ability to take down Angel," Gunn said, thinking back to the very recent past.

"I'm just afraid he'll go all Rambo and try to break Faith out by himself."

"And ruin our plan," Buffy stated. "Find them, Gunn. Before the big bad does."

* * *

Wesley looked down at his bruised and bloodied knuckles, contemplating what had happened earlier. He had let his baser instincts take control of his thought processes. Those slayer instincts of hunt and slay the enemy roared through his brain.

Faith and Buffy faced that every day. With Buffy, her bond with Giles had made her into a successful and very much alive girl. With Faith, Wesley had failed miserably. Was it just their personalities that had shaped the way they slayed or their training? Faith's first watcher hadn't lasted long enough to create a bond and Giles had already created one with Buffy.

So if they had bonded at first, could Faith have controlled herself? If what raced through his brain before was any indication, Faith had fought a losing battle. Only by being taken out of slaying for a while and gaining maturity had she been able to overcome those urges to slay with abandon.

If they were linked long enough, he might be able to do the same. But Lorne said their link was created by something not of this world. How cryptic was that? Someone turned on the link, they could bloody well turn it off.

He knew he shouldn't do it, so that Faith could reserve whatever strength she needed, but he needed to talk to her in the worst way. It would seem that he needed the telepathy like it was a drug. Maybe it might even calm him somewhat.

Concentrating, he touched her mind softly so as to not intrude if she was sleeping. Her mind was slightly panicked at her incarceration.

 _Faith, it's all right, love_.

He could feel her outward calm battling with her inner turmoil.

 _They put me in a cell. It's small and cold._

 _Listen. Listen to me. We'll find you. I can assure you of that._

 _I'm scared. Something's wrong with me._

He could feel her thirst, her stomach churning over and over.

 _They may have drugged you_.

 _Oh, God. Not good. Not good. What'll I do?_

 _Just sit tight. We're getting closer._

 _Dawn got away. She'll know._

 _Good. That's good._

 _I'm so tired._

 _Rest, sweetheart._

 _We'll be ready. Just hurry_.

He eased off his link to her. None of his borrowed power had disappeared. Why had hers? The only thing he could imagine was a drugged Faith. So she wouldn't be much help once they found her.

The two vehicles pulled to a stop midday, sun shining overhead.

"Why are we stopping?" Connor started.

They had been traveling since the night before. Wesley climbed out of the vehicle with the rest of the troops. His muscles came alive almost immediately. But the urge to hit slowly receded to the back of his mind. Maybe that was because slayers generally worked at night.

"Oh, my back," Lorne groaned as his feet hit the dirt.

"Oh, my bladder," Xander cried as he climbed out last.

"Where are we?" Wesley asked Riley. They had actually stopped at a real rest stop. The thing was intact since it didn't offer anything to steal or destroy.

"We have at least another day before we reach LA. You?"

"I think we can safely say that I'm calm and under control."

Giles joined the conversation. "You are?"

"Much better, thank you. Faith seems to be OK at the moment. Giles, she's scared. Thinks that they may have drugged her. I can feel something isn't right about her."

"Easier to control her, I would assume. Is your link becoming stronger the closer we come to her?"

"Yes. It would seem to be working that way."

All the men and girls, including Lorne gathered around Riley as he pulled out a large map of the Los Angeles Basin.

"OK. Lorne says we need to get to here to have sewer access. Once we do that, we can move around a little less conspicuously."

"I've heard rumors that there are at least three cells of resistance. If we get to at least one of those, they surely will know where the bad guys are hanging out so we can find our little slayer and get rid of the bad guy." Lorne's info sounded solid. "Someone mentioned Reseda."

Wesley laughed. "Never did find out whether the beast of Amalfie arose. Damn Nyazian Scrolls."

"Wesley?" Giles asked.

"Yes, Rupert."

"Focus."

"Sorry. Go on."

"So we find these resistance fighters. What then? We going to send in old Wes and talk them to death?" Xander piped up.

"We can just send you in and bore them to death. Shouldn't take much." Wes had forgotten how much he disliked Xander.

"Civilians," Riley mumbled.


	20. Columba

Chapter Twenty – Columba

"Hello, slayer. What is your name, I wonder?" a man's voice echoed off the cold, stone walls.

Faith sat on the floor with her back against the wall. She'd dozed on and off for hours, trying to conserve what little strength she had. Silently, she looked at the man through the bars.

"You haven't eaten or drank anything since you've been here. I really don't want you to die on me just yet. We have a while longer. Why don't we share it together?"

"Why don't you go to hell?" Faith responded.

"Quick temper, I see." The man motioned for the two guards to open the cell.

Since Faith was already against the wall, she couldn't back up any further. He looked like a man, but her senses told her something wasn't right about him. She sensed the man was decaying from the inside out.

"Time to eat, my sweet."

The two guards wrestled her up from the floor.

"Beautiful women have always intrigued me."

Faith snorted. "Why don't you just torture me and get it over with."

"Now why would I want to mar that beautiful skin of yours when I already have something for that kind of enjoyment."

The man led her under guard past other cells, all empty. Up ahead, she heard a male scream. Maybe they were going to torture her after all.

The guards led her past the room where the scream had come from. A quick glance in told her all she needed to know. Although the figure's back was turned towards the door, there was no mistaking that tattoo on his back.

Angel was alive and there wasn't a damn thing she could do to help him at the moment. She struggled against her guards anyway.

"Don't hurt him."

"Ah, Faith then. The vampire with a soul. One of a kind, you know. He has a great power running through his undead body. Just like yours."

Power trip. Figures, Faith thought. The guy wanted more power, so he took people he thought were powerful.

"Power hungry monster."

"Oh, I'm not a monster. I'm human just like you. A little older by more than a millennia, but human nonetheless."

"Which means when I get my hands around your throat and choke the shit out of you, you'll die."

The two guards shoved her up some stairs to a foyer. They were in a house. A really large and expensive house.

"I don't think that will happen. Now, these gentlemen will escort you to get cleaned up for dinner. I suggest you cooperate."

"Or else what? Cause there is always a threat."

"Your friend downstairs gets hurt. I know so many ways to make it hurt."

And so did Faith for that matter, so she cooperated with her guards. They set her up in a room with windows, but when Faith tried to break one, her fist was repelled. She didn't have the strength to do much else.

When she saw the white dress on the bed, she laughed out loud. Well, if this guy was thinking virgin sacrifice he had another thing coming. That was so far from the truth to be downright comical. If Wes could see her now.

So, she cleaned herself up, drinking water from the faucet, hoping that it hadn't been tainted, because she was getting lightheaded from dehydration.

In defiance she put on her black bra and her boots with the flowing white dress. One of the guard's eyes opened wide when he saw her stomp down the hall.

"Columba will not be pleased," one of them told her as they came down the stairs.

"Do you really think I fucking care?" Let him play his little games, she thought. She just needed to stall until Wes found her.

Dammit, she hated relying on someone else, especially a man. Especially a man that could make her melt with one look.

"You look . . . ." Columba started.

Faith crossed her arms over her chest. No heaving bosom here. She was even getting some of her strength back.

"What? You thought I'd go all screaming virgin on ya. You're fucking nuts, you know that."

One of the guards raised a hand to strike her, but Columba stopped him.

"Don't worry. She will pay for her sins soon enough."

"Yeah, well since I've broken practically every commandment, that might take a while."

"Sit, please."

The guards led her forward to a chair at an elegant dining room. Faith sat at one end, Columba at the other.

"Damn sorry. You may think you know how to show a girl a nice time, but this is too much," Faith sarcastically told him. "And ya definitely ain't gettin' lucky tonight."

"Silence," Columba yelled.

"Temper, temper. And I especially don't like some jackass kidnapping me."

"The other one was so much more even tempered. Even quite pleasant at times."

"What other one?" Now Faith's interest was piqued.

"Your blonde sister."

"Buffy?"

"I think that was her name. A shame it didn't work out."

"Where is she?" Faith said, starting to rise from her chair.

"Disposed of her, of course."

"You bastard." The two guards pushed her back down, although it wasn't as easy as before for them.

"I am a child of God, never a bastard. Now, you will be quiet as a mouse, and we will eat."

"Not hungry."

"The threats just don't seem to help, do they? I wonder if they will now. I was going to wait until afterwards to give you your present too."

Columba uncovered a platter to reveal Brianna's severed head.

"Oh, God," Faith said as her head spun, falling to the floor. The water she had drunk all came up making her dizzy and disoriented.

"Obedience, my dear girl. That's all I've ever asked for."

* * *

Wesley remembered that strong emotions were the first sign of their special bond together. Faith had just experienced an emotion so strong, he gasped in pain.

"Wes, what's happening?" Connor tried to reach him.

They'd already gone through the barricaded towns that he had encountered so long ago and were getting closer to the city. It was amazing how fast you could go if one didn't have to search for food, water and gas.

"Faith," he whispered.

Some of the soldiers turned to look at the two in the backseat. They were ready in case he lost it again. It took him almost an hour to pull himself together enough to talk to Connor again.

"Hey, you with us? These soldier boys don't look too happy with you freaking out again."

Wesley swallowed hard to keep from vomiting.

"Is she OK?"

"Brianna's dead, Connor. That's all I could get from her. She's not talking to me. She's shut down, trying to shield me."

"Try again. Maybe she can talk now. She needs you, you know."

Faith didn't need him. She may want him, but she didn't need him. No one had ever needed him in his life. So why should anyone start at that point. Although his head still hurt from the strong emotion thrown his way, he tried to establish contact with her.

 _Faith, honey_.

 _No. No. No. Go away._

 _I felt what happened. Are you OK?_

 _Go away_.

She was crying. Huge sobs were racking her body. He wished he were there to take away all the hurt.

 _Not going anywhere. I love you too much for that to happen_.

 _Don't come here. He'll kill you. Please don't._

 _You know I can't do that. We'll get you out._

 _He'll kill them too._

Faith's mind was one big, confusing jumble. He didn't understand what was happening to her.

 _Have you eaten?_

 _Can't. Sick to my stomach. Oh, God. He cut her head off just to make a point_.

So that's how Brianna had died. No wonder Faith was so distraught.

 _You have to be strong_.

 _I don't want to be strong. I just want to make it all go away._

 _I'm not going away any time soon. Got it?_

 _Yeah._

 _Please eat. I want my girl to be strong when I get there._

 _Have to eat. Have to protect it_.

Now that didn't make any sense to Wesley. But she was probably dehydrated.

 _Please. For me_.

 _I will. Bastard Columba put me in a white dress._

 _Virginal white?_

 _Yeah. Thought you might find that hilarious. Your head hurts._

 _I'm OK._

 _I wanna sleep now. Love you_.

The connection that they had eased off some. Faith was now the one with control issues. She was falling apart. When the Beast had beaten her that time, she fell apart. But she had violently taken it out on his shower. She hadn't turned into a quivering mass. Her way to fall apart was to hit. Just like she had tortured him and tried to kill Angel.

It was he in its purest form, he concluded. He's the one who turned into that quivering mass after he almost killed Fred. And drowning his sorrows in alcohol for weeks on end after Connor was taken. He needed her strong, willing to fight back. And all he got was himself.

* * *

"Hi ya. Would ya like somethin' ta eat, 'cause if ya don't know who to ask, it'll never happen."

"I'm fine, Fred. Dawn might need something though."

Dawn squealed beside her. Buffy had no idea what was up with her sister. All the nonsense that she told them. Unbelievable. But Gunn's people had believed her. Whatever.

"You're alive too. This is so great."

"Yeah. Charles told me what happened. Poor Wesley. He's been through more stuff in the past year. With stealing Connor, Justine slashing his throat, sleeping with that skank Lilah, that really gave me the chills. Evil Cordy, her sleeping with Connor. Now that was too icky for words, and Angelus reappearing. Thank goodness for Willow."

"Wait, wait. Angelus?" Buffy asked as Dawn was still gasping at the Connor thought.

"We needed his knowledge to defeat the Beast since, hey, only one to have it. Sort of miscalculated on that one. Evil Cordy stole Angel's soul that Wes had stored in the safe. But Faith captured him and Willow re-ensouled him."

"Willow never told me any of that."

"Oh, probably didn't want you to worry."

"I'll bet." The world had almost gone to hell and her best friend hadn't said a peep. The girl next to her could say more in one breath than she could in an hour. Since Angel was not the conversationalist it probably drove him up the wall.

Buffy still couldn't believe Angel's team. Gunn, with his street fighting skills, could come in handy. But the rest of them, no way. Fred was a physicist for goodness sake, Cordelia was just Cordelia, although Gunn did say she had visions, and Wesley was never good for anything other than getting knocked out. If you added Faith to that mix, she didn't see how Angel ever helped anyone, much less themselves.

"Connor slept with Cordelia?" Dawn was still stuck on that one.

"It wasn't her. Some evil, skanky power took her over," Fred filled in.

"Wesley slept with Lilah?" Lindsey said, joining the conversation. "I'm surprised she didn't stab him in the back while he slept."

"Lilah evil?" Buffy asked.

"Put her in the ring with Angel, and she might just come out the winner."

Buffy liked her little group just fine. Except Willow had gone around the bend before, Giles really had done some questionable things, and Xander could annoy the hell out of a nun. Maybe she shouldn't judge.

"And you should talk, Lindsey. You lucky that Angel just took that hand of yours," Gunn added.

"You evil too?" Buffy asked Lindsey.

"Had an epiphany. After I ran Angel over with my truck a few times."

"Kicked your ass, didn't he?" Dawn said, looking him straight in the face.

"Dawn, language. What has Faith been saying?"

"She's fine, Buff. She's Faith."

"That's what I'm worried about."

They all set about doing the tasks that they were assigned, except for Dawn. She paced around, wanting to contribute something to the cause. But Buffy knew that she was just her little sister. One day, maybe, she could be a member of the Scoobies, but not yet. She wanted her sister to stay young and free. Nothing like Buffy was at the moment.

Gunn reappeared not too long after with news. "I have my people ready to spot them when they get close enough."

"Remember what I said, guns," Dawn reminded the man.

"No, it's Gunn."

Dawn gestured to him with her finger in the shape of a gun. "Weapons. Those military boys are just a little trigger happy sometimes."

"Wait, the military's involved too." Buffy kept learning bits and pieces of the story. Not the whole story though.

"What I think she's sayin' is she, Connor, Faith and Wes fought their way outta hell, only to come back in with lots more muscle, in a nutshell. Makes sense." Boy, when the physicist started making sense, they were all doomed, Buffy thought.

"Hey, good summary, Fred. I don't know if Riley will like being called muscle though. Xander might."

Buffy turned to gape at her sister. "You left that part out too," she screeched.

"Sorry, I forgot."

Buffy threw up her hands. "Nothing will surprise me anymore."

"How about Faith and Wesley being groin buddies."

Even Lindsey yelled at Dawn's use of language. All the adults looked at her in shock. Buffy was going to kill Faith when she found her.

"Explains a lot," Gunn mumbled.

"She tortured him," Fred continued, mouth agape.

"Fine line between pleasure and pain," Lindsey added.

"You'd know about that, wouldn't you," Gunn finished.

Buffy shot the 'if looks could kill glance' at each of the adults. "We are so done with this subject." Besides, it was like thinking about Giles and females. Her brain just didn't want to go there.

Fred led Dawn away to feed her again. Now Buffy had a chance to ask about Connor. Gunn seemed to know enough about this person to ask.

"Gunn, question?"

"Yeah?"

"Connor. Angel's son. What's he like? I mean, you know."

"A nineteen year old hormonal mess if you ask me. Makes you wonder what Angel was like at that age. Nah, take that back. I think Angel said all he liked was drinking and women. Connor is so much more like his father today. Broody as hell."

"The reason I'm asking is because Dawn talks about him way too much."

"Just be careful."

"Why?" Buffy asked as Gunn started to walk away.

"You'd have a hard time takin' him down, if you know what I mean. Like father, like son."

Was there something between her sister and Angel's broody son? All she knew about was infant Connor, not come back all teenagery from a hell dimension Connor. She didn't want to see her sister hurt.

* * *

"It's getting dark," Xander replied as they watched the sun start to set. He'd transferred to the other vehicle when he started driving Riley crazy.

They were getting closer. Wesley could feel his link with Faith getting stronger. He hoped they were on time. Since he and Connor were not in the lead vehicle any more, he couldn't ask Finn how much further.

"We'll get there in time." Connor was so sure of himself. Whereas not six months before, he believed in an entity that ate people whole. "I know I'm not the poster boy for stability." And sounding more and more like Dawn. "But I have learned a thing or two from my father."

"And what might that be?"

"Gotta keep fighting. I just wish I'd figured that out six months ago."

"Connor, sometimes it's better not to fight at all. Something I'm sure Holtz never taught you. Also, revenge is not that sweet. It's never worth the price that you have to pay."

"What price?"

"Your soul. Just remember that the fight has to be just."

"Like fighting for Faith."

He wondered what the boy meant by that. Was it fighting to retrieve Faith, or fighting to keep her once they did?

The vehicles slowed down considerably. That didn't bode well for the group.

"Looks like trouble up ahead, guys," Xander called out to the occupants. "Vampires."

Just then, the driver of their vehicle floored it, following the lead one. Riley's men had already started firing their weapons to clear a path.

"Yeah, real slealthy," Xander added. "Does everyone have his or her seatbelts on?"

"Why?" Connor and Wesley asked in unison. The few slayers in their car checked theirs quickly.

"Roadblock up ahead. And Riley's going through."

The lead vehicle cleared a path for them to follow. Maybe his idea of just Faith and he had been a more sound one. If they didn't get to friendly territory in a hurry, every demon in Southern California would know they were coming.

"Santa Clarita, here we come," Xander joyously pointed out.

If that was where they'd pick up the sewer system, then it would take them weeks to get into LA proper. And by the feelings he was getting from Faith, they didn't have that long. Maybe days at the most.


	21. No Way

Chapter Twenty-one – No Way

Faith didn't care any longer if the food was tainted, she had to have something in her stomach. So she devoured the food and drink that had been brought not ten minutes before. At least now her stomach had quieted somewhat.

That bastard knew she'd freak out about Bri. Why on earth had he done it? Once she escaped, he'd pay for that tenfold. The girl had been her responsibility.

Too many responsibilities now for an ex-con slayer who preferred to do things her way. Things she couldn't have dreamed of a year ago. She had a job, a purpose for living, where before she just did what felt good, even if it wasn't the right thing to do.

Want, take, have had been her motto for so long, it had taken prison to beat that out of her. There were no wants at all, only schedules inside. And you did exactly what **_they_** wanted you to do. There had been no way in hell either Wesley or Giles could have handled her in the state she was in before. Her path had been set. She just wished she had veered off that path a little and hadn't taken anyone down with her, most of all Wes.

Past was past though. They both had changed significantly over the last couple of years. As much as he said he loved her, in some respect she felt he was still frightened of her on some level. Not exactly a way to build a stable, honest relationship, because, oh boy, were they in way deep.

No man had ever told her that he loved her. Sure, some guys had said it, but not really meant it. Because as soon as something went wrong or they got what they wanted from her, they left. That's what she wanted from guys though. A good screw, then scram. Things always went wrong with her in the picture.

The relationship with Robin started going wrong as soon as they left Sunnydale. Every time he did something to annoy her, she'd fly off the handle. It got to the point when Giles asked for the favor, she welcomed getting out of Cleveland.

The night before she was to leave was the kicker. He had told her that he had to patrol with one of the new slayers, training her. So when she went looking for the two of them, she'd found them locked in a passionate moment. Robin and eighteen year old Brianna.

She never said a word to anyone that she had seen it. Leaving the next day to contact Giles had been the best thing to ever happen to her.

So here she was screwing around with her ex-watcher. No room to talk, she supposed. She and Robin had been history long before her leaving, but now she knew what it felt like to be in his shoes. In the heat of battle, sometimes people get thrown together who would otherwise never hook up. Take for example, her and the English guy. So not her type. No two people could be so different in likes and backgrounds. Yet something drew them together.

Opposites attract? Ha. She'd never believed that myth. Usually it was opposites annoy the hell out of each other and they went back to their neutral corners. Which was exactly what happened in Sunnydale to the two of them. Being evil at the time probably had more to do with it than anything.

She should make a list of all their opposites. He had more books total than she had of everything that she owned. The man's vocabulary was enormous, while hers consisted of the f word way too often. She'd have to add some of his more colorful British swear words to her vocab. Fashion sense, from suits to button-down shirts, the man probably never owned any leather to speak of. Although he certainly liked the red leather top she wore on several occasions because she caught him staring at her chest a few times in Sunnydale.

If she made a list of opposites, she should make a list of similarities. They both definitely liked a good fight, at least the new Wes did. The old Wes would just scream like a girl at the first sign of trouble. He could hold his own, she found out in LA, knew his weaknesses and strengths. He also liked being dominate. She knew he liked being in charge over herself and Buffy in Sunnydale, because of his duty to the Watchers' Council. But that new Wes in LA had been in charge because he exuded confidence and the intellect. He'd earned it the hard way. That she understood. She also liked being in charge of her own destiny too. She learned in prison just how precious that was.

So she'd file away all these little thoughts til later. They'd have to come up to be discussed. She'd be ready with the answers.

Just because the sex was more than great was not a reason to have an honest to goodness relationship. Sure, a prerequisite in her book, but it was just one part of the whole picture. She missed his touch the most right that instant. Since they had to be touching almost constantly because of the link, she had come to depend on it in just a few short weeks time.

Her skin itched a little just thinking about his hands. Maybe she'd tell Willow not to find them a spell. And here she thought that he had become way more dependent than she was.

She needed to feel him, talk to him in the worst way. Their link was getting stronger. She knew he had moved that much closer to her.

 _Hey, you_.

She could feel her mind touch his, not unlike the way she liked to feel him all over her, all the way down to her toes.

 _Hello_.

 _I miss you._

 _Better?_

 _More stable you mean. I ate finally. Calmed myself down a little._

 _Good. You had me concerned._

 _I was just thinkin' about your hands._

 _Faith, I'm in a vehicle going 50 miles an hour with a bunch of slayers and soldiers. Not the time to think about that. But it would be so lovely to hold yours._

 _Soon enough. I really miss the handholding._

 _Among other things._

 _Very funny. Yes, among other things. You certainly do lots of other things with those skilled hands of yours._

 _I aim to please._

 _Which you have like no one else._

 _Comparing me to others, heh?_

 _Not exactly. Hey, not many guys can keep up with me._

 _No pun intended._

 _Of course not. Be here soon._

 _Changed your mind about me rescuing you?_

 _With you, I don't care who's on top._

 _We're talking about your rescue._

 _So am I. I should let you rest._

 _Faith?_

 _Yeah._

 _We, I, I'm not sure what to say other than I love you._

 _I know you do, big guy. I love you, Mr. Sappy Englishman_.

* * *

"Hey," a hand shook Buffy awake. It was still dark outside, and quiet which was so of the good in her book.

She looked up to see Lindsey crouching over her. How did Cordelia deal with working with all these macho, good-looking men? Except for Lindsey, Angel seemed to surround himself with big guys. At least Lindsey didn't tower over her. But compared to Spike's lean physique, Lindsey's arms were as large as her thighs. And Gunn was even taller than Angel from what she remembered.

Guess you had to be built to fight demons in LA.

"You awake?"

"No, Mr. Macho Man, but I am now. What's up?"

"I think we have a line on our military boys. Two vehicles crashed through one of the vamps roadblocks a couple of hours ago. Looks like they're headed to the outskirts of LA."

"Can we intercept them yet?"

"Soon."

"Just be very careful. We need every ally we can find."

Lindsey snickered in the darkness. "Yeah, I guess we do."

Buffy stopped him from leaving by touching his arm. "Why are you here, doing this?"

"Not sure exactly. I guess I finally saw the light, as they say. Being evil took too much work, too much sacrifice."

"Like being on the side of good doesn't. Lots of people that I cared about have died over the past year. I'm just so tired of it. It stops here. I'm taking this guy down hard."

"Sounds like fun."

Buffy could see his smile even in the darkness. The man obviously had some issues, but he was on their side now.

"Thanks for listening to me ramble. I do that lecture thing sometimes. Ticks people off."

"Not sure why. I like it when your eyes get all fired up."

Was this guy flirting with her? So, one ex was being held prisoner, while the other was speeding to save them, and here she was flirting with someone entirely new. And it felt good not to have all that baggage lying around, complicating things.

"Well, not that I haven't seen you all posturing when there's a tough assignment to take on."

"Nah. I'm just a simple country guy."

"Who used to work for Evil Incorporated as a lawyer? Simple my ass."

"And you chastise your sister for her language. I'll let you go back to sleep."

"Thanks, Lindsey. It's nice to be a little normal in all this craziness."

Before Lindsey pulled away from Buffy, he lightly grazed his lips over hers. "You're welcome."

* * *

The sun arose again, Wesley thought, and we haven't gotten to Faith. His patience was virtually non-existent at that point. But, he held it together. For everyone else's sake. No good fight for quite a while though. If he could pace around, he would.

One of the soldiers was talking on one of his fancy toys, but Wesley thought of them as walkie-talkies. "We're stopping. Everyone needs a break," one of them called out.

Maybe he'd get out and run all the way to LA. Fifty, sixty miles, no sweat with the energy he had pent up.

As they all climbed out of the vehicles, the air was cool and crisp. Well, as cool as you could get in this area, which meant in the 60s. It was welcome though to cool his body somewhat. Fog still hung in the air, blotting out the early morning sun. What Wesley wouldn't give for one demon to pop up and menace him.

"Where are we?" Connor asked.

"Still too far out." One more day was almost too much for him to take.

"Riley says we're on the outskirts of Santa Clarita right now," Xander told them.

"Not close enough."

"We should be able to contact one of the resistance cells soon according to Lorne," Riley answered back.

Connor touched Wesley's arm to still him. "What?"

"We're being watched," Connor whispered to Wesley.

"By what?"

"Not sure. Could be human. Should we tell the others?"

"Let them have all the fun? How about we find out for ourselves."

He'd been itching for a fight. Even if whatever was watching them was human, at least they'd get in a good workout trying to find them. Connor took off one way and Wesley in the exact opposite direction.

"Guys, where are you going? Deep in enemy territory here," Xander pointed out quietly as Connor passed him by.

"What's going on?" Riley asked, walking over to Xander.

"Don't know."

Then the two disappeared from sight. The terrain they were in was a bit rocky, but with some trees and a few industrial buildings. Nothing had been destroyed here. Just deserted. Riley motioned for four of his men to fan out to track the two demon hunter's movements.

"Riley, need I remind you," Giles started.

"They won't shoot. Giles, my men don't hurt humans. They're much better trained than the ones in Sunnydale were."

"Not much of a comfort," Giles answered, reliving all the things that went wrong with the government's little experiment.

Wesley didn't see Connor at all, although he knew the boy was close. But up ahead, he could sense the presence of something, just around the corner of a building.

What he didn't expect was to be taken down from behind. His whole body hit the dirt-packed earth hard. His teeth rattled in his head. Whatever tackled him had him at a disadvantage. Not a lot of room to maneuver. So he slammed his already rattled head back into the creature that had taken him down.

"Ow," he heard from behind. Since the last time he'd seen action was the incident in the car, he was itching for a good, long fight.

His elbow connected with the figure behind him. The grunt of pain satisfied him that the attacker was at least momentarily stunned. So when he scrambled up to give it a good roundhouse kick, the figure went down on its stomach. And stayed down. That was much too easy.

As Wesley looked at the prone figure on the ground, it did look human. No wonder the person went down so fast. But as he bent down to check it out, the human elbowed him in the jaw, knocking him backwards.

Before the human could regain his footing, Wesley dove for him, crashing them both to the ground again. He landed a couple of good blows to the man's body, each with that satisfying grunt. The man, whom he figured out, was a man because of the build, also got a few blows in too, but not slowing Wesley down a bit. The adrenaline was pumping too hard and too fast.

He heard off in the distance feet running towards him, but he ignored it to concentrate on the fight. It's when Wesley jerked the man over to face him, that he got the shock of his life. His fist stopped its downward motion just before it connected. Underneath him, with a bloody lip and the makings of a black eye was Gunn.

So now he was beating up on ghosts. His mind had finally cracked under the pressure.

"Oh, damn. The kid was right." Gunn obviously knew who he was. At least two of Riley's men had their weapons drawn, pointing them at Gunn. So they saw him too.

Every time Wesley's brain tried to form a coherent thought, it flew on to the next. He thought about using every curse word Faith would use in a situation like this. He even thought of a few choice ones himself.

But there was no mistaking that the man on the ground below him was either Charles Gunn or his exact twin. So his fist still hung in midair.

"English, you can put that fist that's ready to smash my face away now. It's me."

Wesley lowered the arm, but still stared at him. This man had been his best friend once upon a time. "You're . . . ."

"Alive. I know that. Now, let me up."

Wesley slowly raised himself up, putting his hand down to help Gunn up from the ground.

"Bloody fucking hell." Faith would be proud of him.

"OK, I know you've lost it, 'cause those ain't words I've ever heard comin' from that mouth." Gunn grinned at him. Wesley never thought he'd ever see him again.

"Say somethin'. You're freakin' me out here." Instead of saying anything else, Wesley pulled him into a fierce hug that of course only lasted for a few moments and contained a lot of thumping on each other's backs.

"You . . . ."

"Never thought I'd see the day when you were speechless. Now, could you tell these guys to lower their weapons?"

Wesley motioned for the soldiers to stand down.

"You have hair."

Gunn burst out laughing. "Yeah. I am so glad Cordy's not here to hear you say that. What, it took you two weeks to notice her new do that one time."

"No one will ever let me live that one down, will they?"

"Nope."

"I thought you were dead. The hotel."

"I know. Same here. I need to signal my other people. We have you surrounded, you know."

Connor came tearing around the corner to defend Wesley, coming up short when he saw Gunn standing next to him.

"You're alive," Connor said, shaking his head.

"And I intend to stay that way, kid. Hear you've been takin' care of my man?" Gunn asked Connor.

"He gets in way too much trouble. And how did you know?"

"Some girl about this high, brown hair, nice right cross by the way."

"Dawn?" Connor's eyes lit up.

"Thank goodness." One less burden on his shoulders to worry about. The girl had gotten to safety after all.

The three men plus the two soldiers headed back to the vehicles. Gunn gave a loud whistle. At least twenty people appeared out of nowhere.

"They're good," Connor commented.

"How many did you take down?" Gunn asked.

"Only three."

Wesley laughed. He could see three people limping their way towards the vehicles.

"Riley Finn, meet your resistance." Riley and Gunn sized each other up for a moment. "My associate, Charles Gunn."

"Hey, aren't you dead?" Xander pointed out.

"Wes, did you tell everyone that I was dead?" Wesley glared at him instead of answering. "So, I'm going to get that look from everyone you introduce me to."

Riley finally put his hand out to shake Gunn's. "Major Riley Finn. My team is here to take out the leader of the demon rebellion. How many people do you have at your disposal?"

"Oh, we pretty much ring the city now." Now Wesley was impressed. Gunn had taken on a different type of leadership role. One he wouldn't want in a million years. "Still lots of bad guys out there though. We need to move."

"As I live and breathe, Charles Gunn." A green hand waved out the window.

"Lorne? Is that you?" Gunn went over to say hello to the demon. Wesley slumped against the bumper of the vehicle. Things were turning out better than he ever hoped or imagined.

"Let's roll, man. We have a long way to go."

Gunn had moved back over to Wesley. That familiar pat on the back made him smile. Things were different between the two, but maybe they could pick up the pieces this time. They'd put away their animosities for the time being. The good guys needed to take a stand and take back their city.


	22. Look What the Cat Dragged In

Chapter Twenty-two – Look What the Cat Dragged In

Buffy gathered together Lindsey and a couple others to try and finalize a strategy. Gunn had gone out to intercept the military. She didn't need them to complicate her life any more than it was now. What she wouldn't give to be in a small Italian café savoring a cup of coffee and watching the people walk by.

The small commotion at the door signaled that Gunn had been successful. Her nerves were jittery enough having to see Riley again. Xander and Giles had joined in also. The only ingredient missing was Willow. And she was glad the witch was elsewhere. She had enough people to worry about.

"Hey, slayer. Look what the cat dragged in," Gunn shouted from across the room of people.

Giles and Xander did look like something the cat buried in the backyard. Had Riley ever looked so tall and commanding? She waited for Sam to pop out next to him. The two had seemed inseparable in Sunnydale before.

The squeal from Dawn startled her though. Instead of running to Xander or even Giles for that matter, Dawn ran for a boy about the same age she was.

"So that's the boy wonder," Lindsey mused beside her.

Connor. Had the same scowl as his father. Otherwise, Buffy would not have known that they were related. But it was the man standing beside Connor that worried her. The scruffy man glared in her direction. He wasn't staring at her, but Lindsey.

Dawn pulled away from the boy to hug the man. Damn, it couldn't be, she thought. She didn't have time to think about the scene before her since Xander enveloped her in a bear hug.

"I'm OK, Xander."

"Just checking." It felt so wonderful to see her friends again.

Giles looked at her with that half-smile he always gave her when she had done a great job. "Nice to see you," Giles told her as he had his turn at a hug.

"Nice to be seen. I see you met my army."

"Yeah. Although yours aren't as scary-looking as ours is."

Buffy could see Riley giving his men orders. He hadn't approached her yet.

"How are you?" Giles asked.

"Other than being sliced by that damn bad guy, and his minions trying to kill me afterwards, just fine."

"Do you have any idea what is happening?"

"Some, but I'd love your input. This guy we're going up against is very powerful."

"You know they kidnapped Faith?"

"Yeah. For some reason my blood didn't work."

"Buffy, before the First issue had been resolved, she was the slayer."

"Not any more though. We should have a confab after you guys get cleaned up."

"You tell him, Giles. I am so not in the mood to get decked. My nose still hurts." Xander motioned to the man behind him.

"He will just have to understand that we need to plan."

"OK, confused here," Buffy told the two men.

* * *

"Why are we just standing around?" Wesley asked Dawn.

"Because Buffy has a plan. We need to wait."

"For what?" Connor asked, also eager to find Faith.

"Hey, Wes. It's cool. The girl has a plan," Gunn interjected.

"We can't wait, Gunn. Faith's in danger."

"Whoa, whoa. Don't go all cowboy on us. And will you quit glaring at that man, 'cause he's on our side now."

Gunn had noticed Wesley's look in Lindsey's direction. He never trusted the lawyer. The many times he had tried to change his stripes never turned out good.

"He have your back now, Charles?" Gunn flinched a little. He knew that Wesley never used his first name unless it was to make a point.

"He's not lyin', Wesley." Fred had joined the conversation.

Wesley figured out that greeting Fred any other way than just politely would not be a great idea. Besides, Faith might be listening in.

"You're alive too, I see," he told Fred.

"Yup. I'm glad you're OK too. We were worried." He noticed a couple of nasty scars on Fred's arms. Maybe now she knew a little of what he felt, scars and all?

"Lindsey's saved my life a few times," Gunn added.

"Yes. Something I know quite a bit about," Wesley finished, thinking of the many instances where they'd been there for each other, before Fred came along.

Xander strolled over, but not getting too close. "Buffy would like for us all to take a break. I know, I know. Don't shoot the messenger. I think it's a good idea for now."

"Gunn, how do I get in to where Faith is being held?" Wesley asked, ignoring Xander for the moment.

"We'll get to her. Why are you so gung-ho to get to that girl?"

Lorne had gotten a couple of stares from the humans, but with the military protecting him, no one approached. "Wesley, we need to talk," Lorne asked the agitated man.

"Lorne, what's going on?" Gunn wanted to know.

"Wes, are you OK?" Fred asked him.

Everyone was looking at him like he had grown two heads. Was there fury in his heart? Yes. He wanted to get out of this warehouse, on the road and out of each and every one of their stares. He'd never fit, never belonged, just like Faith.

"Take a swing," Connor started, perfectly serious.

That snapped him out of his fury for a moment. All that he could think was to get to Faith. None of them understood how strong the pull was right then. Danger surrounded Faith. She was his life now, and he wasn't going to stop until he found her.

"I am not going to hurt you, Connor." Lindsey walked up to the familiar faces. "I don't have a problem with him, though."

Wesley swung out, taking Lindsey down with one punch. All his friends' eyes widened, but Dawn was the only one to step in front of him to calm him down.

"This is so not going to get us anywhere, Wes," Dawn called out to him. "Stay down, Lindsey."

"Not going to get up," Lindsey groaned, holding his jaw.

"Wes, he's with us now," Gunn told him.

"Yes, and how many times did he try to kill us all, especially Angel?"

"He's changed," Fred added.

Buffy made her way over, striding right by Riley in the process. Lindsey looked like he needed a hand with the scruffy guy standing over him, fist ready.

"Great, he's gonna beat up someone else," Xander concluded, stepping away even more.

"Hey, you need to back off," Buffy yelled before she reached Wesley.

Wesley turned to her, meeting her face-to-face, fist at the ready. Connor stepped in front of him, along with Dawn.

"Get out of the way," Wesley growled.

"Not gonna happen, Wes," Dawn told him.

"Dawn, step away from that man. He's dangerous. And I don't have time for this." Buffy was ready to fight too.

"Tell me where she is?" Wesley said from behind the two teenagers.

"You know, you kind of look like that pansy-ass watcher who used to bug the shit out of me back in Sunnydale. But you're acting like that stupid vampire and I sent him to Hell. Want to join him?"

"Oh God, would you two quit posturing for just a moment. Am I the only one around here acting like an adult?" Dawn added.

"Yes, I think that neutral corners would be wonderful at the moment," Giles finished, taking Buffy's arm to lead her away. "Sit, Buffy."

Dawn lead Wesley to a chair on the opposite side of a big conference table set up with sewer drawings. So they were in the sewers, he thought. He'd be able to travel fast and light, once they told him where Faith was. No one could keep him from leaving once he discovered her whereabouts.

And here Buffy thought that she was in charge? The girl couldn't plan her way out of a paper sack. She had been lucky she had Giles with her back in high school.

"Sit, Wes," Dawn said, forcing him down into a chair. When had Dawn grown up? She had looked like such a lost little girl only a couple of weeks before. Maybe that was just the way he had wanted to see her. She had needed his protection, which made him feel needed in return. Now she was taking control of him. Females.

"Giles, I need info. Not having any books or any way to get info has made our lives a living hell. Here's what we know. The bad guy, Columba I think his name was, wants to gain power somehow. He's going to perform a ritual of some sort and he has to complete it by the end of the full moon."

"Werewolf?" Xander asked.

"No, looked human. Even smelled human. But definitely not that human. Said he had some type of ritual to open some kind of portal."

"Blood," Dawn added.

"Isn't it always. I don't have the foggiest idea what kind of ritual it is. I just know that it takes three and he has all the pieces."

While Buffy was describing the problem, Wesley's mind went into overdrive. He knew who Columba was, but it wasn't possible that the priest was still alive. It just didn't make any sense to him.

"Do you remember any of the words in the ritual, Buffy?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, like the word imperium or imperial or something like that. Not like I ever listened to all those Latin words you and Willow spout all the time."

"So the man does want absolute power then?" Wesley added. "Columba was a priest around 563. He seemed to have quite a bit of power and influence back then. He was the head of a religious body whose only order was to obey him. He had built a monastery in Iona, crushing all opposition around him. He ruled for some time, and then died around 597. He cannot still be alive."

"Unless he had powerful magicks behind him?" Giles stated, throwing out an idea.

"Only way to gather that much power, I suppose. I just cannot believe that this is St. Columba. He must be just using the name."

"Well, whatever he's doing, he's doing it right. You don't command that many demons without some kind of power, that's for sure," Buffy sighed.

"What are the other pieces? He has Faith," Wesley asked. Just saying her name pained him. He was supposed to protect her, even though she could protect herself just as well without him.

"The other two are Cordelia and Angel. I'm not sure what the significance of that is," Buffy added.

"What?" Wesley hadn't heard her right. They were dead, both of them. "Excuse me."

Wesley slowly got up from the table and walked away. Silence filled the space around the table. The walls came pressing in on him. He needed to clear his head, try to figure out what had gone wrong. Why had he left the two there in that hospital? Dust and blood don't lie. Had he imagined things in his desperation to escape?

Passing by the last guard before the entrance, Wesley kept walking to the outside door. No one stopped him from going outside. He opened the door with a resounding crash. He hadn't even looked back to see if anyone followed him.

To a person who a few months before thought he had lost all his friends, this news should have been joyous. Instead, all he could feel was guilt. Guilt for not staying behind, guilt for not saving his friends, and guilt for not dying when he should have. Sliding down against the building in the waning sun, Wesley sat with his head between his legs. With each turn, his world had turned upside down. What other surprises awaited him?

Would these friends forgive him for leaving them behind? How did he ever say he was sorry for not helping them?

"Thought you'd be happier with that news," Dawn called out.

"I left them behind."

"You didn't know," Connor added.

The two teenagers slid down on either side of him.

"You might need some protection out here," Dawn quipped.

"Still lots of bad demons around," Connor told him.

"How did I ever survive without the two of you?"

Connor smiled and Dawn snickered.

"I'm not sure what kind of game that guy's playing, but I think that whatever happened to Cordy and Angel, it was planned. Make it look like they're dead and no one comes looking for them." Dawn seemed so right about it.

"So stop feeling sorry for yourself," Connor wanted Wesley to know. "They're alive." Connor's voice broke a little.

"Yes, indeed they are. Which means we need to break them out."

"And save the day," Dawn added.

"Take the bad guy down," Connor said, sure of himself.

"We have work to do, children."

"I hate it when he says that. I am not a child," Dawn whined.

"When you say it like that, Dawn. You sound like a child." Connor was playing with fire.

Wesley laughed at the two. "Faith isn't here to break the two of you up."

"So let's find her so she can. They are so screwed."

"Dawn," both males called out.

"What? Well they are. Did you see the look on Buffy's face when she saw you?"


	23. Brief Interlude

Chapter Twenty-Three - Brief Interlude

"The full moon is day after tomorrow. You have a plan Buffy," Wesley asked as he re-entered the room with Dawn and Connor in tow.

"Yeah, I do. Ready to listen?"

Buffy laid out her plan. It was simple and to the point. They would enter the areas that seemed the least protected, those areas that Gunn's people had entered undetected before. Buffy knew where Faith and the others were; she just needed the muscle to get there.

What she didn't understand was her former watcher. Man had he changed. Everyone had been using the word scary to describe him. The last time she saw him, he'd been beaten up by Faith. She never would have described him like that then. Although he did seem to have a sort of edge to his voice when he decided to help Faith instead of the Council. Those damn idiots sure did mess up more than one person, she thought.

And Dawn's declaration that Faith and Wesley was an item? Nonsense and she knew it. Although no one would have ever believed her relationship with Spike, but it happened. Life was so screwed up at the moment.

She'd seen Faith after she had returned from Los Angeles. She had mellowed, unlike herself. Faith had finally become comfortable in her own skin. Maybe the ex-watcher had something to do with it.

* * *

"So we go tomorrow?" Lindsey asked from behind her. He'd been scarce ever since the punching incident earlier in the day.

"Yeah. Hit them hard and hit them fast. Now it's time for a good night's sleep."

Lindsey smiled at her. "Right. Like you'll do that."

"Hey, not easy to sleep before battle, but I try."

Lindsey sat down beside her, close enough to press up against her shoulder. "You're one hell of a woman, you know that?"

"You're a big flirt. But I think you know that. Just so you know. That really tall blonde guy over there. Former flame. Angel. Former flame too. Not too good on the relationship front."

Lindsey looked at her directly. His blue eyes sparkled with amusement. "You're a little too serious for your own good."

"Yeah, you're right. I need to chill."

Lindsey traced one finger on the back of her hand, making her a little warm inside. Would he just be a distraction or something more? She really did need to stop thinking and start living.

"When this is over, Lindsey, I think the French Riviera looks promising."

Lindsey's eyes widened at the prospect. She didn't say that he'd be there with her, but if he played his cards right, maybe it would happen.

* * *

"So?" Connor asked.

"So." Dawn was not happy with the guy's expression. She couldn't read it at the moment.

"I, um, things are a little crazy right now, with Angel and Cordy and everything."

"I understand." No, Dawn didn't understand. Was the guy giving her the brush-off?

They had found a quiet corner in the large warehouse to talk, finally talk with each other. It had seemed like forever since they had. Dawn was scared to talk to him. But she knew in the end it had to be done.

"You escaped?" he stated, face expressionless. Inherited from his father, no doubt.

"Had a little help from Faith. She helped create the distraction."

Connor looked down at his feet, like he didn't know what to say next. Damn, guys were so dense.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you." Oh, he definitely sounded like his father.

"Look, Connor. It was so not your fault. And it turned out fine."

"We, I, what are we doing here?" Connor leaned against the wall, clearly frustrated.

"It looks like we're having a discussion."

"That's not what I mean. I thought that we were, you know, close."

Dawn snorted. He had no idea how to do this. Frankly, neither did she. Buffy kept most guys away. All of her experience had either been clandestine or just watching. Not that much time to date when there was an apocalypse on the horizon.

"Close? Much closer than that, you silly." Connor raised his head to stare at her, like he didn't understand her sentence. "They really didn't teach you much in that hell dimension, did they?"

"You see, all I wanted to know was," he started. Dawn moved in closer to him, pinning him to the wall. She'd have to be the aggressor in this relationship. He didn't have a clue what to do next.

"I really do like you, doofus." Connor half-smiled at her. God, did he have a great smile, she thought.

They both moved in to kiss, only having accomplished one before, in that cabin right before that vampire had burst in to challenge them. They'd been all arms and legs, not quite getting it right. And being interrupted had definitely killed the mood. Not much time for kissage after that, Dawn surmised.

But Connor's lips were warm and inviting. She liked the fact that he was a little clueless about these things, the Cordelia vision aside. That had been the old Connor. This was the new Connor, her Connor. As she sank into his arms, she couldn't think of a better place to be right at that instant.

* * *

"I'll kill him," Buffy hissed as she saw the two teenagers in a lip-lock in a remote corner.

Wesley had sought out the slayer, to apologize for his outburst. But that would have to wait. He needed to save the two from her wrath. More like he needed to save Connor from it. She loved her sister and protected her too much to let anything happen to her.

"Wait," Wesley implored before Buffy could take off after the two.

"You don't order me around any more," Buffy told him as she whirled around to face him.

"No I don't. I just wanted to speak with you for a moment."

"After I take that kid's head off, then we'll have all the time in the world."

Wesley laid a hand on Buffy's arm, trying to save her from a messy scene. "Dawn's a smart girl. You should be proud of her. She handled herself quite well out there."

Wesley could feel her muscles bunch under his hand, but he didn't remove it. Buffy had always been a stubborn, protective woman, especially of her family and friends. Listening was not her strong suit. He was afraid that she would never listen to any explanation her sister would give her.

"If you're trying to protect him, it's not going to work," Buffy sneered back.

Wesley sighed. He really liked her the way she was back in her high school days. At least then she was just sarcastic to him. Here she looked like she could take his head off with one punch.

"I don't have to protect him, Buffy. He can do that all on his own. He is his father's son."

"That sounds like a threat."

"No, not at all. Just a fact. And if you want to blame someone for the way he is now, then blame me. It's my fault he is the way he is."

"There's a story there, I'm sure."

"Yes, indeed." Wesley let go of her arm, almost sure that she wouldn't bolt over to take Connor apart. As he looked over at the corner, the two teenagers had disappeared anyway.

"You're different. That much I know. You come in here spouting that we have to find Faith. Just because you're not that wimp of a watcher back in Sunnydale doesn't mean squat to me."

The girl knew how to hit him hard. He remembered the ribbing he had gotten from the group in Sunnydale vividly. But he was beyond that now. The hard exterior shell that had formed over him had survived intact. He'd walk away before he hit her or worse.

"You're right," he called as he walked away. But the woman followed him. Now did she want to take her pound of flesh on him too?

"Not done talking, Wes," she told him as she caught up with him.

He told himself that he'd tune her out. Needing to get ready for the impending battle was the goal at the moment. Fighting with his former slayer was not. He made his way to a bathroom, wanting to shut out her insistent prattling. He grabbed his bag, not glancing back to see if she followed.

Noticing that the bathroom looked empty, he walked in and set his bag down beside him, pulling out a new shirt. Unfortunately the woman didn't get the hint and walked in behind him.

"You need to realize something. I didn't like you then and I don't like you now. The influence that you've had on my sister."

So this was about Dawn still. At least she didn't go back to insulting him. Wesley ripped his shirt over his head, still trying to tune her out. Her gasp of surprise wasn't unexpected; although he had just wanted to clean up a little, not shock her.

"What happened to you?" she asked a little slowly.

"Don't have that famous slayer healing unfortunately. Shall I point out all the scars I have. This one here is from zombie cops." Wesley pointed to his abdomen. "This one here is from a woman named Justine. She took the baby Connor right out of my arms right after she did it." He pointed to his neck. "And this one right here, demon decided to snack on me." He pointed to his shoulder.

"I didn't know," was all she could say. "I guess we've both been on the front lines a little too long."

For the first time since his arrival, he looked at her directly. There was a darkness he hadn't seen before in the young woman. Like she had seen and done too much to ever be innocent again. Being a slayer had its problems. One saw too much death and destruction in such a short life.

"Buffy, I know that a lot has happened in the last year. I know that you've lost too much, but think about Dawn for one instant. She's not the girl you used to know. She's a young woman capable of making her own decisions. Smart decisions."

"She's just a child."

"Not any longer." Oh, how he longed for those days when he didn't know any better.

"I'm just a little overprotective. And I'm sorry for the insults. Not deserved. But answer me one question. Faith? Talk about baggage central."

Wesley chuckled. Yes, lots of baggage between the two. Much pain to deal with after this was over. "Something we have in common though."

"Oh?"

"She hurt us both and we both forgave her. Says something, now doesn't it."

Buffy looked puzzled. "Not sure what you're getting at."

"We're both more alike than you know."

Buffy shivered. "No thank you. Being British and drinking tea all day is not my idea of fun. I'll let you and Giles do that for the rest of us."

"And Buffy?" Buffy turned to leave, hopefully getting what she needed from him for the moment. "You're standing in the men's restroom."

Someone cleared a throat over in a stall, probably wanting to get out of there, but too embarrassed to leave with her present. Buffy slowly backed out of the restroom, a slight blush to her cheeks.


	24. True or False

Chapter twenty-four – True or False

Faith was never a worrier. Things did turn out the way they were supposed to turn out. But the only thing on her mind at the moment was escaping. She knew the gang was coming to get her. The link between herself and Wesley was practically screaming at her now. The only problem was she didn't want anyone hurt just because of her.

Columba had decided that her appearances at dinner were unnecessary. Thank God she didn't have to endure him anymore, or she'd lose her lunch every time she looked at him. She just wished she knew where Angel was being held. Then she could escape, break Angel out, and somehow bash the bad guy's head in before he could blink.

Not all was going great for her. Her stomach was always queasy, she felt dizzy half the time, and her body flashed hot and cold constantly. If this continued, she'd go crazy. Since she'd never been sick as a child, being in this condition now made her feel out of control.

Instead she needed to be proactive, get herself out of this situation. Climbing onto the side of the wall, she reached the bars to the window that let light in. It was worth a shot to see if something up there was loose. One of the bars did jiggle a little bit, but she couldn't get enough leverage on it to pull it out. She fell down to the ground, trying to figure out another way to remove them.

Maybe if she caused a scene, then they'd come see about her and open the cell door. That had worked in so many movie plots, it might be worth a try. If the guards were stupid morons would help.

So she clutched her side and crumbled to the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Help me, somebody. I'm dyin' in here."

Two of the guards came running, but did not open the cell.

"I'm bleeding here. I need help. What if I die before the ritual," Faith moaned to the two.

One opened the door, while the other stood back to watch. She had the one guy down in two seconds flat and the other guy pinned to the wall outside the cage in four. Slamming the guard upside the head, she flung him back into the cell and closed the door. Since the keys were still dangling from the lock, she took them out and pocketed them.

"Damn, strength is returning," she said to herself as she scanned the rest of the cells for Angel.

The guards were causing a ruckus back in her old cell, but once she shut the door on that wing, no one could hear them. She just hoped there wasn't some type of surveillance system set up. She was screwed if there was.

The place was laid out in a maze-like fashion. She couldn't figure out where she was going, just that she had to get as far from that cell as possible. Rounding the corner, she remembered that this was the area that she had first seen Angel. Maybe he was close by, she thought. As she crept along the wall, listening for any sound of people, she heard another voice she wasn't expecting. And it just didn't make sense that she should be hearing that voice.

"So if it happened once, it can happen again. I can't take it happening again. It didn't work, right? So what's the point? Not going to work."

Now she had to save not only herself, but Angel and Queen C as well. Nothing is what it had seemed. She was pretty sure when she had seen the dream, it had all happened. Angel and Cordy were dead. The dream had said so. Wesley had said so. No way it was a lie. Wesley couldn't lie that well.

Faith slowly made her way around the corner to see Cordelia, dirty and bloodied, sitting on a concrete floor. She didn't look good. She'd never seen Cordelia look like hell before. It was not a pretty sight.

"Cordelia," she whispered.

"Now I'm hearing voices. See. This is it. It's over with. Please just take me back. I'll behave. No more interfering."

Faith rolled her eyes at Cordy's dramatics. The woman always did act way too emotional.

"It's me. Faith." She ran up to Cordy's cell, keys at the ready. After the fifth try, she found the right key.

"You're not real. Just a figment of my imagination. Just like Angel was and Buffy was, and now they're both dead. I saw it."

Faith snorted. They better not be. But as far as she knew, no, both were alive and kicking.

"Cordy. We need to get out of here, now." Faith took her hand to propel her forward out of the cell.

"She doesn't believe you," a voice off in the distance said.

This was just getting better and better. She didn't have to go far to find her other target. Angel sat huddled, trying to keep away from the encroaching sun in his cell. Did he have to endure this every day, trying to find shelter from the bright light streaming in?

"Believe it. We need to leave now. Those guards I took down will be missed."

"Your strength?" Angel asked, trying to edge his way over to the door and avoiding the sun at the same time. His face was bloodied, one eye swollen shut. They must have used him as a punching bag very recently.

"Somehow, it's returning. I'm not sure why."

Faith dragged Cordelia out of the cell and made her way to Angel's. Opening the door on the second try, she shielded his body until he could make it into the corridor where the sun did not touch.

"You good?" she asked him as she saw him limping along.

"Don't worry about me. Cordelia needs it more."

Faith helped the seer along the corridor until they got to the door that led up to the house.

"We go up or down," Faith asked the vampire.

"We have to go down. No other choice. Sun won't set for several hours. Then we can find a way out."

"You look like psycho girl. Why are you here to save us?" Cordelia started to get her faculties back. But her speech was still too slurred.

"I just saw you not too long ago. Remember?" Faith told her as they made their way to the sewers.

"No. I've been a higher being, so no. Unless you became a god, which I don't think would ever be possible, because hey, killer."

Oh, mean Cordy was coming out to play. Faith would drop her right where she stood if Cordelia didn't pull herself together.

"She doesn't remember much. That wasn't Cordelia when you last saw her."

Faith sort of knew that. It definitely looked and acted like the ex-Sunnydale resident. Could things get any screwier?

Faith and Angel heard scuffling of feet not too far behind them. They hurried along at a faster pace, both helping Cordelia now that it seemed maybe they had been discovered.

"Which way?" Faith asked Angel yet again. She'd rely on Angel sense of direction and his nose to get them out of this maze.

Angel pointed to the left, running ahead to see where it went. The vampire went down as he rounded a corner. Did he slip or was there someone waiting for them around that corner? When she heard the sounds of punching, the former scenario was the answer. Faith let go of Cordelia and raced ahead to join in the fray.

* * *

It seemed to take forever to make it to the point where the invasion was to start. It looked to Wesley like Buffy had been planning this for a while now. Too many people in place around the city to cause chaos against Columba. It was a well-organized attack on all fronts.

"Can you really fight?" Buffy asked them as they waited for all the pieces to be in place.

What a ridiculous question to ask, he thought. She still didn't have any faith in him. All she remembered was his last fight in Sunnydale. He'd been down with one punch from someone. His neck hurt for weeks afterward. Now he knew how to dodge those kinds of powerful punches. And he also knew how to give them too. He also knew what to use to his advantage.

Wesley pulled out his shotgun from its holster on his back. "We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I, for one, have come well prepared."

"Never been a gun person myself," she said, trying to hide a smirk.

"We use what we have," he replied sarcastically. He replaced the weapon, checking once again for all the other weapons on his person. If she knew what else he carried, she would be more than surprised.

Gunn had come along with Xander and Riley, but Giles and Dawn had stayed behind at the warehouse. He was grateful that Buffy had put her foot down on that. He didn't want to worry about more than one teenager at a time. Connor stood beside him, ready to bolt and find his father. Something he thought would never be possible. Connor actually wanted to save his father. Holtz would be shocked if he were still alive.

The connection with Faith provided a pleasant hum in the back of his brain, always there, but not taking up too much of his thinking. He just hoped that she was all right. He was right about one thing. His ability to control his emotions had gotten stronger over the last two days. It was either from coming closer to Faith or he was mastering that part of his mind that was affected.

"When?" Connor whispered to Wesley.

"Could you follow his scent if we came close enough?" Maybe if Buffy were wrong, they'd have a backup plan.

"I could right now."

"We're that close?" Now that was not what he had expected.

"Close enough. Four miles at the most."

Connor amazed him sometimes. Part bloodhound, part demon, part human, part something else, the boy, if he got his head together, would leave a slayer wanting. It was the part about pulling his life together that Wesley wasn't sure about. He still had many issues, most involving his father, that he had to figure out.

Putting his musings on the boy aside, he went through what he would say to Faith when he found her. He needed to get her as far away from this mess as possible. Then they would see if the spell or curse they were under could be lifted. If it could, then what would be the next step? Faith had her life in Cleveland; Wesley had his life in Los Angeles. Well, what was left of Los Angeles.

He knew he shouldn't have been thinking about Faith. Every time he did, when he probed the connection just a little, something bad seemed to happen. His body slammed up against the wall, head hitting the slimy concrete hard enough to almost knock him out. Faith was in serious trouble. And if Connor was correct, they weren't very far from it.

"Dammit, he is not freaking out on me," he heard Buffy's voice through the haze of pain. "We're not ready."

Wesley pushed himself up, not seeing the group in the tunnel, but seeing through Faith's eyes. Angel was trying to take on two vampires without much success. Faith seemed to have much more strength than Angel, and was taking on more, including a huge hulk with spines exposed down its back. They weren't going to win, he could tell. With just Faith at full strength, there were still too many of them.

Wesley made his way over to the ladder to go up into the sunlight. He was getting out of there. He could find Faith on his own. It was now or she would die.

"Don't let him leave," Buffy yelled.

Wesley wasn't going to let that happen. "Extundo," he threw at the group as he climbed up the ladder. That would stop them for a while. But not for long. As soon as he was out of their sight, the spell would wear off quickly. He just hoped that he was a bit faster than the slayer or Connor. What he didn't expect was to see each of them sprawled out on their backsides, struggling to get up. Maybe his powers were stronger than he realized. He didn't want to stick around to find out.

"What the hell did he just do?" Xander called out to Buffy. Buffy had no idea that Wesley could use that powerful a magic, much less use it at all. Each of the group slowly got up from the ground, having felt like a sledgehammer had hit each. Connor was the first to recover, quickly following the ex-watcher.

"No, Connor," Gunn shouted, but the boy was gone. "We have to go now. Wes will get himself killed."

"Should have brought Giles," Xander mentioned. "And what the hell do he do to us?"

"He repelled us from following him so he could get away," Riley announced, rubbing his head where he had hit it on the ground just moments before. "I know some Latin."

"When did he learn how to do that?" Buffy asked Gunn.

"English always had some of that in him. Just not that powerful. Listen, I'm going after them."

Buffy threw up her hands in exasperation. "My plan was good, right?"

Gunn yelled, "Yeah," as he started to climb the ladder.

"We going?" Riley asked as he looked to Buffy for guidance.

"When I catch up with him," she started as she climbed the ladder not too far behind Gunn's feet.

Wesley ran, sensing but not seeing, where Faith might be. He thought they'd need Connor to track down where Angel was. His connection guided him just as well as Connor's nose.

"Slow down," Connor called from a half a block behind him.

He didn't want to hurt the boy if Connor had come to take him back. The streets were quiet in the twilight. The sun still shone as an orange glow in the west. Since it was a residential street, not much damage had occurred. The homes looked to be expensive and fairly new. So they couldn't be near the city's center, where high rises and older housing dominated the landscape.

"Where are we?" Wesley asked Connor as they slowed somewhat.

"Tarzana, I think."

Then all of the pieces fell into place. Why hadn't he seen it before? Dammit, why hadn't he trusted his translating skills? Maybe because they'd gotten him into such trouble before. He wasn't always correct in his translating of prophecies. He still didn't exactly know what shanshu really meant. But he'd forgotten about that one little fact that no one even cared to care about. Everything in the Scrolls of Aberjian had come true so far. He'd translated so many false prophecies, he never knew which were true or not, or which prophecies belonged in which set of scrolls.

"I know exactly what we are dealing with," Wesley told Connor with authority.

"How do we kill it?"

"I have no earthly idea. I'm just Gun Guy. Remember?"


	25. Harbinger of Death

Chapter Twenty-five – Harbinger of Death

Angel had made the quip about Tarzana being the place where the demon would arise. The scrolls had said Reseda, which were in geographic proximity to each other, neighbors actually. It had to be the Beast of Amalfie, the razor-toothed, six-eyed harbinger of death. Wesley had remembered that he had been captured ages ago and put in a box. The box was made of rosewood, sealed by a priest and could not be brought forth unless you had the right magical incantation. All of it was thought to have been lost.

This demon was supposedly from the British Isles. Could he have been around in the time of Columba? That would have made him an old demon indeed. Nothing else was clear from the prophecies other than the time of rebirth. He had concentrated so hard on the prophecy that pertained to Angel, he had completely forgotten about the rest of it. What else did he miss in his quest to figure out the shanshu?

And if this was Amalfie, what on earth did he want with Faith, Angel and Cordelia? That was the part that didn't make any sense. There was nothing in the scrolls about Faith or Cordelia, just Angel. Cordelia had even made a joke about wanting to know if she could get a fame and fortune reading by translating the scrolls. He had informed her it wasn't a magic eight ball. Now that he thought about it maybe they were mentioned but not by name. Since both women were quite memorable, that had to be impossible. He would have noticed. And he obviously couldn't check because they had been stored in the safe of the Hyperion, which had burned less than six months before.

As he raced to help Faith and the others, Wesley wondered what he would find when he arrived. He knew that it was a blood ritual, that Amalfie needed the three. It had to be something to do with the scrolls. He must have missed something very important. Could the magical incantation to trap him have been in the scrolls? He couldn't remember any kind of spell that was mentioned in any of the prophecies. If there wasn't, then how on earth was he to stop the beast?

Buffy had said that it was in human form. That she had believed that it was human, although she had sensed that it was decaying. Maybe the shell really was human. Could the sacrifice keep it in human form or give it infinite power? Too many questions to answer for that moment.

So he didn't know how to stop it, didn't know how many guards there were, and didn't know why the ritual was happening. What worried him the most were the dreams that Faith had been having. She must have been dreaming about the ritual, but neither knew that at the time. Slayer dreams had the amazing ability of coming true, although Buffy had thwarted several in her career already.

With the connection strong, Wesley saw flashes of Faith being dragged somewhere against her will. Angel and Cordelia weren't in very good shape, so they would be no help. Faith was fighting with all her might, but the creature that held her was stronger than her for the moment. He concentrated very hard to see where they were. They passed cell after cell, going through a door and heading down more stairs. The ritual was on and would start momentarily. Buffy had been wrong about the time. Amalfie was getting edgy, especially since Faith had escaped. His timetable had been pushed up. As soon as that sun went down, he'd begin.

Wesley looked at the receding sun, watching it set over the horizon. He guessed that they had another twenty or thirty minutes at the most before things started to get unpleasant for the three. Maybe Faith could delay the process for a little while after that.

Connor gestured to him to follow, his nose doing the work. The two crouched down behind a fence. The boy pointed across the way to a large house surrounded by gates and guards. Well protected as far as the two could tell.

"How do we get in?" Wesley whispered.

"We could walk through the front door?"

"Very funny. You see any breaks in their security?"

"None."

The second revelation hit Wesley. He had that answer all along too. They were taking the three down, which meant they were underground. The dream had shown an underground structure large enough to hold lots of demons. Those demons would need access under cover, especially the vampires. Wesley pointed to a manhole cover not ten yards from them.

"They're welded shut, you know." How did Connor know this? "I know how to pop them." Connor smugly smiled at Wesley.

Connor ran over to the cover, put his fist to one side and slammed his fist downward. The cover literally popped under the force, making a clanging noise as it did. It wasn't enough to draw the attention of the guards patrolling the house. And it gave them a way in.

* * *

"Where are they?" Buffy asked the one of the big men beside her.

"Don't know," both Gunn and Riley answered in unison. Neither one was ever too verbose. Shorter answers were better than Xander's exposition any day.

She wished that Lindsey were present, but he was leading one of the other squads. He had made her feel more comfortable in the last couple of days, helping her out immensely. He was a natural born leader, had a sense of humor, and was gorgeous to boot. She just had to keep her mind about her so that Angel would never sense her growing feelings for the ex-lawyer. He wouldn't take kindly to seeing Lindsey near his old flame. The man had tried to kill him. Angel never did take that lightly.

"Manhole cover," Xander pointed down the street.

"Calling card for us," Gunn told them as he looked down. "Let's go."

"Who opened this? We don't know what will be down there." Riley wondered.

"The kid did this. I know his style. Now get your Army butt down that hole. They're gonna need backup."

Riley did as he was told, followed by Xander, then Buffy and finally Gunn. The rest of Riley's troops soon dropped down too.

"The way in?" Gunn asked.

"Yeah, just not the way I came. They must be close."

"Chanting. I hear chanting," Xander told the group.

"What I don't hear . . . ." Buffy reached out with her senses. Off in the distance, she could hear the faint hum of a chant. Damn, Xander had been right. Maybe it was true when you lost one sense, or part of a sense as Xander had, that the other senses made up for the loss. "I hear it too. Let's move."

* * *

Both Wesley and Connor heard the chanting begin. It was happening. They took off at a run, ignoring any danger signs.

* * *

Faith fought hard until they had dragged her into that room. The room that she had seen in her dreams. So slayer dreams do sometimes come true. All the ones she had ever had came out vague and disturbing. She never had time to figure them out, so mostly she just ignored them. But this one had been crystal clear. Did that mean it would come true?

In her dream, Wesley had arrived right after the fatal blow. She'd heard that Buffy had several times beaten the dreams, made them not come true. Could she do that this time? She hoped so, because this group was getting louder and more insistent by the minute.

Her strength had returned full force, but Angel's had not. There were too many demons to fight. Should she just save herself and not worry about the other two? If she did escape, the ritual wouldn't happen. But Columba was just crazy enough to kill the other two for spite. There had to be another way.

Columba stood at the altars, ritual knife at the ready. Man, that thing was big, she thought, when a little one would do the trick just as nicely. Why was it men had to have big knives? Must make up for some inadequacies.

Wesley was so close, she could almost feel his power radiate out of her. Was that how she was able to regain her strength? Maybe that connection had come in handy after all.

"The ritual begins," Columba hissed.

"You bastard. What is it that you want? Huh? Power is not all its cracked up to be. Besides, you're going down."

Faith lashed out with her fist to take the vampire at her side down. She'd have to improvise on stakes since she was fresh out. Maybe that ritual knife could take the guy's head off, if she could wrestle it away from the bloodthirsty maniac who waved it around. Delay was her only hope now. Wes was on his way, stronger than ever.

The damn chants were severely getting on her nerves. Luckily most of the chanters hadn't joined in the little diversion she had started. But the ones that had were big and vicious. She tried to protect herself as much as she could. She just had to dodge and stay away from the knife. What surprised her was Angel had joined too. He was weak, but from the looks of it, pissed beyond belief. She would be too if she had been held for three months and treated like a punching bag. Queen C was struggling with her captors too. Maybe they might end up on the win side of this battle after all, she thought.

* * *

Wesley could hear fighting up ahead, could feel Faith desperately trying to keep her head above water. She was waiting for him. Taking on the next demon, he could feel her strength wavering. As he rushed down the dark corridor, he willed her to keep fighting, to borrow some of his power.

Connor and Wesley entered the vast space surrounded by red robed demons. The chanting became louder and more insistent. Everything that the dream had shown him was coming true. Except the fact that Faith, Angel and Cordelia were all fighting. That had not happened. Maybe he had missed it watching Faith get skewered by the knife.

Lucky for him that the red robes didn't move. The guards though did, seeing the two humans enter. Wesley drew his pistol and took down the first one that got close to him. He was tired of fighting with his body. Superior firepower indeed. The demon crumbled in front of him, blocking his way for a few moments. Connor had taken on another one beside Wesley. He'd let the boy fight his own battles.

Faith had sensed him entering but had not turned to greet him. Too busy holding off three vampires. What didn't make sense was why she was only blocking the attack, not throwing many punches. She was waiting for him? Why the hell was she doing that?

Bloody hell, he thought to himself, she didn't want to draw on his strength. And in the process, she might get herself hurt.

"Faith. Fight," he yelled to her. She still dodged, not taking any punches to her middle. She wasn't in the game, just holding status quo.

Connor took out two demons with a swipe of his sword and started pushing forward to the altar. Wesley followed in his wake. Amalfie/Columba had moved closer to Faith, knife slashing out, almost catching her arm in the process. Angel violently pushed him down, knife clattering to the floor. Cordelia was screaming like a Hellbeast, taking the demon down with just her voice. It really did hurt when she used it in full force.

The chanting that had before gotten louder seemed to almost stop now. The red robed demons were starting to sense that something was not quite right. Most looked frightened, but some looked as if they would join the fray. That was just not what Wesley needed at the moment.

Angel wrestled Amalfie for the knife, but in the end was not strong enough. The Beast tossed Angel off the stage at Wesley and Connor, knocking the two down like bowling pins. Wesley literally threw the vampire off of him, diving for the stage, but being held back by another demon. He cut the thing down quickly, swinging up the knife that he had dug out of his boot when he was down on the ground, embedding it in the demon's skull.

Amalfie was close, too close to Faith. It had nothing to do with the ritual anymore. The beast had murder in his eyes. Faith had ruined it for him. Whatever repercussions happened would be taken out on her if Wesley didn't find someway to stop him.

"Ignis," he shouted as a neat fireball flew out of his palm to hit Amalfie square on the chest. The shell that he had been using blackened, but the demon did not stop. Wesley tried again, this time gathering much more power and flinging the fireball directly to its face.

The shell faded away to reveal the true form of Amalfie. No wonder the thing had taken on human form, Wesley thought. It was hideous. Flesh dripped off of its surface, grotesque features made him ill just looking at it. Now at least he knew what he was fighting. The teeth stood out, razor sharp and ready to taste any kind of flesh. The eyes were not where they were supposed to be. Did the thing even have a head? Wesley could only see three eyes. Where were the others?

As he pushed another vampire out of his way, the flash of steel caught his eye. Amalfie had somehow picked up the knife again in one of its arms. Faith didn't see it coming towards her. This was not happening. He couldn't get there in time.

"Extundo," he flung at the beast, hoping to stall it for a moment.

* * *

"Up ahead," Gunn called as they raced towards the sounds of fighting.

Buffy cringed. They were probably going to be outgunned in there. She remembered how many demons had been present before. Now she'd get to see how well Gunn used that battleaxe, how well Riley's men had been trained, how well she could handle herself yet again with a room full of bad. Would it never end?

What she didn't expect was to meet no resistance as they entered the chamber. Demons scrambled all over, trying to avoid the fighting up front. So, maybe the spell had been broken. Only the most faithful fought. It was still a formidable force, but not hundreds like she had worried about.

"Don't fight the others. Get to the altar. Now," she commanded.

Since Riley was used to taking orders from her, he didn't question her expertise. Or he thought the same thing at the same time.

Angel, Cordelia and Faith were all holding them off, but the thing that was emerging wasn't pretty. Wesley's little fireballs had managed to erase whatever glamour the thing had put on. She liked it better in human form. But now maybe it could be killed. And she would really like to do the killing right about now.

Before she could make her move, she saw the thing move towards Faith with a great big, nasty knife.

"Faith," she yelled, hoping her sister slayer heard and would get out of the way somehow.

She wasn't the only one who screamed at Faith. Wesley and Angel had also. Only it hadn't worked. The knife had already moved on its trajectory hitting muscle before she could reach the altar.

* * *

Wesley watched in slow motion as the knife came into contact with Faith, making her stumble over. It hit high, right under the ribs, probably the stomach area. Amalfie screamed in triumph as the knife slid in like it belonged there.

"Commoveo," Wesley screamed at Amalfie, slamming the creature against the back wall. Power surged through him, tasting black and dangerous.

The dark creature started to get up, but Wesley was on him quickly. "Abolesco," he shouted, bringing the thing to its knees as he twisted his hand in front of him. The thing would die by his newly found power. If this had been what had come from the connection, then so be it. Faith would be dead shortly and so would he. The dark magicks that he conjured wouldn't matter. He wouldn't need to recover. He'd be dead.

"Wesley," he heard Faith groan as she lay on the ground. "Don't."

Faith had been a half a second too slow. She didn't know whether it was the fact that the thing that emerged before her scared her for a moment, or because she finally saw Wes and reacted. Something was building in her watcher, something dark and dangerous. He'd thrown a couple of fireballs at the creature, melting its exterior away. Too gruesome for words. What she hadn't seen was the knife. She thought that Angel had knocked it away. As it slid into her, the dream became reality. Damn slayer dreams, she thought. How on earth did Buffy change them? She'd have to ask her if she survived the gut wound.

She looked at Wes as the knife slid into her. She could no longer see the blue of his eyes. The eyes that looked back at her were entirely black, not unlike Willow at times. And Willow had turned bad once upon a time. Whatever Wesley was tapping into, it was bad also.

Faith slid to the ground, watching Wesley gather nastier mojo, as he got closer to the bad guy. Sure, she wanted to see the thing dead. But not at the cost of Wesley's mind or his life.

Faith could feel the blood slowly drain from her body. She wondered what could have been if things had turned out different. She had to stop Wes though, even with her lame words. She couldn't die with him being like this.

"Wesley, don't."

He turned toward her, eyes black and unseeing. Would he turn his power on her also? He had never looked as powerful and as lost as right now. Everything had stopped in the room, except for Buffy making her way to the altar. Connor was tending to Angel.

"If you do, there will be no going back," Cordelia spoke up.

Faith had forgotten about the cheerleader. Cordelia was trying to reason with the ex-watcher?

"You have to help her," she told him as she touched his arm, trying to bring him back to reason.

Faith laid her head on the cool floor, watching the scene sideways. Her strength was ebbing fast. For once, she wished people would just aim for vital parts so she wouldn't have to linger. No coma for her this time.

Whatever Cordy had said to him made him put his hand down. Yay for her, Faith thought. We'll both still be dead in minutes. Wesley crouched down to Faith's level, eyes still that coal black. She wanted to see his striking blue eyes once before she died. She wanted once to see what really was in his heart. Dammit, why did life suck so much just when something good happened?

"Faith," he whispered to her as he touched her face.

His hand was cold, freezing in fact. It moved down to her fatal injury.

"Sorry. Should have dodged quicker. It hurts." Faith was starting to lose consciousness.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here in time," he told her as he touched her injury.

It burned like fire. She couldn't hold on much longer. "Dammit, really look at me. See me."

It was like a switch had turned off. He slumped over, closer to her dying body. Wesley's eyes had returned to their brilliant blue. "Oh God Faith. No," he cried.

But that didn't mean that he had turned off the switch on the magicks. His hand glowed orange now that it was covered in her blood. Wesley grunted in surprise as Faith looked down at his hand. How was she feeling the strength returning to her? His look of amazement told her something. Whatever he was doing, he was somehow healing her. Until she saw the crimson stain spreading on the front of his shirt.

Cordelia gasped and Angel crawled to the altar as Wesley collapsed. Faith couldn't believe what just happened. He'd tried to save her, take away her death. What had he done?

Faith gingerly raised her body off the floor and crawled to Wesley, who was panting in pain.

"What did he do?" Angel asked her angrily.

Faith touched his wound just as Wesley had hers. She had no magical power to speak of, so she couldn't just take the pain away automatically. But there was something else she could give him. It would take some time, but at least he wouldn't die.

Paying no mind to the blood seeping out of him, she lay her head down on his chest, listening to his heart pump madly to stay ahead of the loss. His hand reached up to feel her hair, slightly chuckling because of their positions.

"Would someone tell me what's going on?" Angel was getting antsy. Connor grabbed his arm to stay him.

Buffy walked up to the altars and knelt down to Angel. Cordelia did the same.

"It's OK now. Everything is as it should be," Cordelia announced.

"English?" Gunn asked as he approached the scene too. He'd seen this happen one too many times to Wesley.

"Would everyone please be quiet? I'm trying to concentrate here," Faith asked the group.

"As if," Cordelia answered in her own fashion.

The core group gathered around Wesley and Faith, with Riley's men driving off the rest of the demons. Most of them had run after the battle had started. Now all they had to take care of was the damn bad demon, Amalfie. Angel saw Wesley's shotgun that had dropped out at some point. He pulled it up, walked over the panting and injured thing and blasted its head off.

"Cordy, the street urchin look does not do you justice," Xander told her as he moved up to her.

"You know. I agree. This is just really gross." Cordy's clothes changed slightly, looking cleaner. She sighed after the transformation.

Angel stared at her in amazement. "Are you leaving?"

"What? And miss this show? No way. And by the way, what's with the shotgun usage?"

The rest laughed at Cordy's antics, still not sure what in the world she had turned into.

"Borrowed slayer healing?" Buffy asked anyone who had an answer.

"Yup," Connor answered her question, casting a glance at his father, who was staring directly at Buffy in that it's nice to see you way.

"OK, while psycho slayer and Giles Jr. take a nice nap, what now?" Xander inquired to the group. No one had moved much, still looking at Faith lying on top of Wesley.

Both Faith and Wesley flashed Xander their middle fingers. Angel and Buffy laughed.

"What does that gesture mean?" Connor asked as Angel led him away to the back of the room.

"Better than a hospital," Wesley groaned as he slowly felt Faith's healing abilities take effect. It would take days for him to heal properly, but at least he wouldn't die and neither would Faith.

* * *

A few of the other squads had joined the advance group. Buffy just shook her head as she sat on the stairs, waiting for someone to explain to her what the hell just happened. Willow and Giles were so much better at dealing with these things. She just hit things for a living.

"You went early," a voice called out to her. Lindsey walked over to her. In the heat of the battle, she'd forgotten about calling in reinforcements. Of course, that had been Riley's job, but she still felt guilty.

"Not my fault."

"OK, why are those two lying on the stage up there?"

"You know, you just don't ask those questions. I've learned to just ignore the magical stuff and concentrate on the slayee stuff. Makes life less difficult."

Lindsey grinned down at the slayer.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Angel asked his son, not looking him in the eye.

"I could say the same for you, but I already had the answer to that one. Man, you reek."

Angel chuckled. The boy was smarting off at him. He guessed he was lucky Connor was even talking to him. They had a long way to go in their relationship. He just hoped Connor was willing to put in the time.

"Ha, very funny. Just cause I can't do that thingy Cordy just did. Hey, living in a cell for three months does things to you."

Angel looked at Connor to see his reaction. But Connor wasn't looking at him. He was still looking at the scene on the stage.

"They care for each other, you know," Connor told him.

"I know. Kind of figured that out a while ago."

Connor turned to look at him now. "How did you know?"

"Hey, vampire here. Right before Faith left for Sunnydale. I knew." Angel puffed up like he was a know-it-all.

"You know, that skill is way too eww for words," Cordelia told him as she approached father and son.

"Not my fault. If he hadn't touched her."

"We wouldn't be here today. Your ass would be toast and I'd be hounding you all the way to the gates of hell right now."

"Was it that bad?" Angel asked of their confinement.

"Bad as in crazy Cordy bad? Yes. Have I told you how much I hated that guy?" Both Angel and Connor chuckled at her statement. "Not funny guys."


	26. Explanations

Chapter Twenty-six – Explanations

As Wesley awoke, he felt a soft bed underneath his damaged body. He was warm and cocooned in soft sheets. The pain in his chest was now just a dull throb. Someone had cleaned up most of the blood that had come about from the transfer of wounds.

So he was shirtless and Faithless. He hadn't sensed her presence anywhere close. Where had she gotten herself off to? He had wanted to hold her and talk to her. Hold her was the first priority. Talk could come later.

Sunlight streamed through a large window, telling him that he had at least slept through the night. He wondered exactly how long he had been unconscious. He had remembered nothing other than Faith's body draped across his on the stage. Then he fell blessedly into oblivion.

Gingerly as he could, he raised himself out of the bed. He noticed that someone had placed his backpack at the foot of the bed. It wouldn't do to go wandering around shirtless. He might scare someone. Walking to the door, he pulled it open, with Dawn almost running right into him.

"Oops. Sorry. Just came to see if you were awake."

"Yes. It seems to be daylight. How long was I out?"

"Three days, if you count that first night."

He'd been out for nearly three days. It must have taken the slayer healing quite some time to knit the wound together. It still hurt quite a bit, but at least he was still breathing.

"Where has Faith gotten herself to? I don't remember much of what happened."

Dawn winced at the mention of Faith. "I haven't seen her today." The girl couldn't lie. Because of living with Buffy, Dawn never got the chance to even try.

"Where is she?"

"I'm not lying. I have no idea."

Wesley pushed past Dawn to stride down a spiral staircase. Whoever owned this home, it was plush and expensive. Riley's men guarded the outside, patrolling the grounds as far as Wesley could tell from looking out the window. Dawn followed behind him.

"Belongs to Columba or Amalfie, or whatever the thing's name was. The human guy was Rich Winston. That's who the human form was. Seems he's the one who let the creepy thing out in the first place."

"He resurrected Amalfie?" Wesley asked, curiosity piqued.

"Giles said. Looks as if the theory was right. He was just using the Columba name for cover."

"Why not use the human's name or his own?"

"Columba was the priest who put him in the box."

Fred had always talked about clicks and how when things fell together, everything would just click into place, like a puzzle. His brain clicked finally.

"St. Columba was a wizard."

"Apparently, from what we found from Willow's research."

"Probably why he had so much power in the region, how he could control the population. He was even said to have visions of God. A seer, no doubt."

Dawn led him through the dining room and into the kitchen. Someone had brought in some oranges and set them on the counter. Wesley's stomach growled. He hadn't eaten in over three days. Hopefully this would be the last time he would ever have to endure not eating for long periods of time. So he picked up an orange and started peeling.

"Could be some of Columba's magicks were trapped in the box with him. How else was he able to control that many demons."

"Could be," Dawn mimicked. "Giles is still researching with Willow. Cell phone service is slowly returning."

"Now that you've gotten that off of your chest, where's Faith?"

Wesley reached out to Faith, sensing her, but she was blocking him again. How come he couldn't accomplish that? He wondered how she had mastered that skill, when he barely could control himself still.

"Why don't you go ask Buffy or Connor?" Who could probably take him on if he wanted to fight. Smart girl.

"Why are you avoiding the question?" Wesley hissed, drawing closer to the girl. He didn't mean to intimidate her, but he knew that she would cave if he put enough pressure on her.

"Who me? I am not being all avoidy," Dawn said, this time huffy in her answer. "If you're not going to be nice to me, I'll just leave." Which she proceeded to do very quickly, exiting the room.

Exploring the house, Wesley found Giles cooped up in something that looked like a study. He sat behind a desk, animatedly talking on one of the military's phones. Wesley had never seen the older watcher animated about anything, unless it was to smirk at some of Buffy's more colorful uses of the English language.

"I don't think you understand the situation," Giles continued.

Wesley didn't understand the situation either. Maybe Giles could explain. But as Wesley saw Giles pound the desk with his fist, he thought he better have a decent, logic approach to asking. He remembered too well Giles's punch after he accused him of shagging his slayer. Of course, his mind was still hazy on having accused him in the first place. Who knew under that tweed the man was a pugilist?

"You do not have any control over it. Complain all you want. We'll see when I return."

Giles slammed the cell phone down on the desk emphatically, making Wesley jump just a little. He had often made Wesley jump back in Sunnydale, not because he was scared of the man, but because he knew that Giles had years of experience on him and that should be respected. And also of all the stories he had heard regarding Giles's colorful past. Maybe a little frightened then.

"Not a happy conversation," Wesley started.

"Council phonies. Sometimes I wish that they'd all been blown up. Fresh start would have been better."

Wesley winced slightly, realizing that Giles meant everyone, including his pompous father. Not that he didn't agree about the fresh start, having accomplished just that in Los Angeles. The old watchers' council was full of men who would do anything to achieve their goals. Even if it meant killing innocent people in the process, or rogue slayers when they no longer could be controlled.

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking about your father. I apologize." Giles rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"You don't have to explain. Probably would have been better, if you ask me."

Giles looked up at him, amazed. "Feeling much better, I see?"

"I'll live. Where is she?"

"Excuse me?"

"Dawn avoided the question too. Now what in bloody hell is going on? Just someone please answer a simple question," Wesley yelled.

"I'm not exactly sure where she is at the moment."

Then it dawned on Wesley what had really happened. The thing that Faith did every time there was a crisis in her life and she couldn't handle it. "She ran?"

"Yes, to put it succinctly. Seems that the military gave her a ride out of here. I don't know where she went."

Wesley eased himself down into a side chair to take it all in. She ran from him, again. Was it the connection they shared? She hadn't seemed worried about it before. Was it the fact that he had saved her, not caring for his own safety in the process? Did that scare her more?

"What am I going to do?" Great, now he was asking the older man's opinion on his love life. "What did I do wrong?"

"She's a woman. Do you have to do anything wrong? I suspect that after she came down from that slayer high that she so much likes, she couldn't cope with all that happened. Can you?"

Giles must be referring to the dark magicks that he had tapped into to save Faith. It wasn't something that he was proud of doing. And it wasn't something that he would normally do in any situation. Being linked to Faith though made his mind think a little differently. Or maybe it just brought out some latent trait that had always been inside of him. Thinking back to the incident with Billy Blim and almost killing Fred, that could be entirely true. The darkness that was within him would never go away just by him wishing it would.

"What you want to know is can I stop if something like this happens again?"

"That dark power is very seductive. Just ask Willow. Any aftereffects?"

"Really hard to tell with all the other pains my body is suffering at the moment."

Giles leaned against the desk in back of him, crossing his arms over his chest. "There could be nightmares, flashbacks, any number of things."

"Willow found anything yet?" Wesley had quickly changed the subject, wanting to drop Giles's line of questioning.

"She's making progress. But I have found the source of the linking." Giles did not look happy about this discovery.

But it brightened up Wesley's day. Whoever did this to the two of them would pay. It was cruel to have linked the two of them so closely together. His fist flexed tightly at his side.

"Wesley, I'll have you know that it wasn't malicious in any way. The linking was done, ill conceived as it was, to help the both of you. The person must not have gone about it in the right way. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong actually."

"What do you mean? Is there supposed to be a link between slayer and watcher?" All of this made his head hurt worse than before.

"Apparently, yes. Only it never happened to Faith and yourself when it should have."

Wesley stood up to face Giles. He was angry that Giles would ever withhold important information that had jeopardized his ability to do his job back in Sunnydale.

"You can sit back down," Giles said calmly. "I did not know of this either, not until that phone call. There have been rumors floating around for years that the slayer/watcher relationship was unnatural to say the least."

That made Wesley wince. Unnatural could mean many things. Thinking of girls and men old enough to be their fathers made him a bit queasy.

"You have been around Faith much too long. Not in that way. Although there have been some hints in the Watchers' Diaries. I found out that each time a slayer is chosen, her watcher has already been predetermined. They are linked."

"How so?"

"Both slayers and watchers possess a dormant gene that must be triggered at a certain moment, to link the two together to be able to fight the forces of evil."

Wesley snorted. It sounded like someone gave him a made-up story at the new Watchers' Council.

"Why do you think watchers run in families? Why vampires always seek out not only slayers to kill, but watchers also? The part I'm still a bit fuzzy about is what happens when a slayer's watcher is killed? Because both Buffy and Faith had watchers before we came on the scene. I need time to do more research."

"This is all not making any sense. My priority is to find Faith."

"I understand that, Wesley. You need to understand that we may not be able to turn this thing off. The specific recessive gene was turned on in the two of you and it somehow created these abilities in both of you. From my experience, that obviously does not happen in the normal slayer/watcher relationship."

The door behind him opened, but Wesley did not turn in his seat. He was still trying to absorb all the information that Giles imparted to him. He never knew any of this. Had his father known what would happen to him when he became a watcher?

"And you also need to understand that the stronger it gets, the harder it will be for the two of you to be near each other."

"No," Wesley swallowed.

"Believe it. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way," Cordelia said from behind him. "Doing what was supposed to be done back before you came to Sunnydale would have made the two of you a team back then. Some stupid moron made the decision that the ritual was out of date. So you suffered. And when the two of you needed it the most, well it didn't kick in how or when it was supposed to. Only right before Faith left for Sunnydale after helping you did I realize that something wasn't quite right."

"This is all your fault," Wesley realized, turning to look his friend in the eyes. "What on earth did you think you were accomplishing?"

"I was trying to save my friends," Cordelia cried. "And in the end, everything went to hell in a hand basket. I tried to fix it. I messed up."

Wesley wanted to turn away from Cordelia just like she had after he had stolen Connor. He was doing what he thought was right and so had she.

"I have to explain to you," she started to tell him.

Wesley stood up and quietly walked out the door, not looking back at the sobbing woman. She most certainly had doomed the both of them, if not to death than maybe to at least never being able to be in the same room ever again.


	27. Run, Faith, Run

Chapter Twenty-Seven – Run, Faith, Run

Faith wasn't running. Nah, she told herself over and over again. Even when she was almost all the way across the United States, she still tried to convince herself that she was just taking a break. That she'd get back to the grind and figure this out.

As she wrapped herself in her leather jacket against the cold, she wondered where in the world would she go next. She'd been driving for the better part of a week, trying to put the last couple of months out of her head. It had all been a dream, a dream that she didn't really deserve.

Caught up in a situation that wasn't either of their making, Faith knew that whatever they had between them, it wasn't real. The link that had been created between them had made it seem real for a while.

Giles had told her the story, how Cordelia had manipulated the two of them so that they could take down Angelus. That higher being power that Cordy had gained sure did come in handy, Faith thought. Only she didn't like being played with one bit. She was sure Wes didn't either, but she hadn't stuck around to find out his thoughts.

As far as Willow's research had gone, it couldn't be shut off. Cordy had no way to shut it off either. The more they were around each other, the harder it would be. The voice in his and her heads would get louder, until it drove the two crazy or at least that was the theory. Buffy had talked about having the ability to read people's minds for one day in Sunnydale and how it ultimately drove her insane until Angel had made her drink some potion with the demon's heart floating in it. Although everything at this point was just a theory.

She couldn't risk at the moment that happening to the two of them. As much as she thought she loved Wesley, she loved what was growing inside of her just as much. And that being was a lot more defenseless than he ever would be. She knew in that instant, after Giles had explained to her what he knew, that she would have to make a choice.

Maybe Willow would find a cure. If anyone could, Willow would. The Wicca packed a powerful punch when it came to those kinds of things. And Giles would be right beside her doing everything possible. She had the confidence now that the two actually cared for her well-being. Sometimes it felt nice to have friends.

The leather coat didn't seem to hold off the wind chill enough in her book. Although she had spent many winters in the Northeastern part of the United States, that didn't mean that she had to like it. Cold was fine, snow was fine, but wind not so fine. So here she was, out in the middle of nowheresville, trying to find a place to stay for the night. Thank God no one had cut off her credit card usage yet. An AWOL slayer probably didn't get the benefits that the other slayers did. Until then, she'd milk it for all it was worth.

The small motel, the only motel for miles, had rooms available. She chose the one on the end that was empty. Old habits never died in her mind. Only one neighbor and an easier chance of escaping if there was trouble were a few reasons why she chose that particular room. And she just wanted some uninterrupted shuteye.

It wasn't until she opened the door to the dark room and threw her duffel bag onto the floor that she felt someone else's presence. Slayer reflexes were too slow in her exhaustion.

"Old habits, Faith," the familiar voice calmly told her. His emotions slammed into her, almost staggering her. He'd finally learned to block her too. But not well enough.

"You're too slick, you know that. Who ratted me out?"

Her watcher's eyes glittered in the sliver of light that was coming in from the parking lot. He didn't look pleased. His mind practically screamed at her, angry at her response to trouble.

"A little sloppy too. Made it much too easy to track."

Faith hated it when Wes got that the calm, even-toned voice. That meant he wanted to do violence to whoever was in the room. And she didn't want to even raise her hand to tell him no, much less throw a punch his way.

"Who said that I cared? Is there a reason you followed me all the way across the country? Or did you just miss my winning personality?"

"Well, it certainly wasn't my winning personality that gave you the reason to run, now was it?" Wesley told her, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Could she tell him it was because she was scared shitless by him?

"Don't worry. I scare myself sometimes too."

She'd have to watch what she said and what she thought. No internal dialogues when she was this close to Wes.

Faith shut the door and bounced down onto the bed, not looking his way. Looking at him always seemed to give him the advantage. And she needed all the help she could get to deal with him.

"What are you doing here?" Faith asked, blunt and to the point.

"I could ask you the same thing."

She hated it when he was so damn smug and smart. Sometimes she didn't have a comeback. So she stayed silent, waiting for him to carry the conversation.

"It seems that we are at an impasse. I suppose that's where we always end up."

"Not every time."

"Faith, you ran away, again. What was I supposed to think?"

"That maybe we had both lost our minds. That maybe whatever we had was a mistake and I was tryin' to let you out of it."

"Mistakes. Those I know about in spades," he hissed back at her, obviously in pain.

"No corner on that market. So we're the poster children for making big mistakes. Get over it."

Wesley didn't answer her right away. He always had an answer to any of her asinine comments. So she decided to sneak a look at him, to see if he showed any emotion on his face. He sat, hunched over on the only chair in the room. Something wasn't right with him. Yeah, he blocked her from seeing. But she got that queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that he wasn't telling her everything.

"How's the wound?"

"Fine," he grunted out, not looking at her.

As she took a closer look at him in the dim light, she could see that his hands didn't look quite right. Reaching over to turn on a light on the nightstand, the small light added some illumination over the scene.

A slight tremor passed through his hands. She could tell he was trying to control it. No weakness in front of his slayer. He never had shown her any as far as she could remember.

"Wes, something's wrong with you."

He still didn't answer her. She softly made her way over to the chair, not wanting to frighten him in any way. Would this be the way she'd end up from the connection? Or had his wound gotten worse?

As she crouched down to take a look, she noticed the veins on his arms didn't look the way they should. She reached out a hand to touch his.

"Don't touch me," he hissed and drew himself deeper into the chair.

"What's going on?" she asked again, her voice shaking slightly.

"Actions always have consequences."

To hell with him not wanting her to touch him. That was the only way she'd figure out what was wrong with him. So she grabbed a hold of his arm. His skin was clammy and hot to the touch, veins pulsing underneath her hand. His stomach pitched and rolled, head dizzy and unfocused. The dizziness almost took her down too until he flung her hand away from him.

"It'll pass. Just give me a minute."

She recognized the symptoms immediately. She'd seen it in her mother way too many times. Only this wasn't caused by some drug that her mother had shot into her veins - this was mystical in origin.

"How long have you been like this? Will it go away?"

"Just a couple of days. And it will go away, although I have no idea when."

The dark magicks that Wes had tapped into to save her life were coming back to bite him in the butt. He had drawn on this stuff because of her, consequences be damned.

"It's OK. I can help you."

"No." The finality in his voice made her step back.

"You should lie down until it passes," she continued, voice impassive. She didn't know what else she could do to help. Especially when he didn't want her help. And particularly since he didn't have a secure hold on his emotions. Her stomach pitched as much as his did. Not something she wanted to share with him at the moment.

Wesley staggered from the chair and dropped down onto the bed with a thud. Not only did his arms shake, now his whole body started to also. He curved his body into a fetal position, trying to calm the tremors.

"Maybe I should call Willow. Ask her what to do."

"I already know."

Either Giles or Willow had told him what to do about the shitty consequences or this had happened to him before. There was so much she didn't know about Wesley.

No matter what he said though, she still wanted to help. Going to the bathroom, she found a washcloth and ran cold water over it. She looked at the toilet, wanting to upchuck herself from the emotions rolling off of him, but knowing that he needed her. Coming back into the room, she placed it on his forehead, hoping that it might provide some comfort to him. When she had felt him before, his skin was hot to the touch even though he was shivering.

"Blanket?" she whispered to him.

"Yes, please." Damn, the man could still be polite coming off of some wicked dark magick.

Faith sat down in the chair that Wes had vacated to watch him, make sure he still breathed. Finally he settled down, falling asleep. He mumbled quite a bit, but quieted down after a while. Faith drifted in and out of sleep, getting a crick in her neck from the chair.

"Screw it," she said out loud.

She climbed onto the other side of the bed, to be close, but not touch him. Since he slept a little more peacefully, maybe she could get some too.

She awoke several hours later to find that Wesley had moved to her side of the bed, curling himself around her back, possessively holding her in place with his arm and leg draped over her.

Sighing in relief, she drifted back off to sleep, knowing that at least one episode had passed for him. In sleep, his mind had shut down, giving him some peace.

* * *

Wesley awoke early the next morning with Faith draped half over him, holding him into place on the bed. He doubted he could move out of her grasp without her knowing it. So he stayed still, wondering what to do next. It did feel good to have her in his arms and bed again that was for sure. He had thought it not possible. The sleep had cleared his mind and made his body feel quite a bit better. Giles had told him to watch for signs of aftereffects. That was one huge aftereffect he had experienced the night before.

Faith shifted positions again, bringing her hand down to the side of his hip, distracting him from his train of thought. The woman couldn't keep her hands still, even in sleep. He rolled from his back so that she faced him, effectively removing her hand. Which made her snuggle right against his chest and placing her knee right between his legs. He sucked in his breath at the movement.

Even in sleep, her body could be enticing. She generated so much heat; he certainly didn't need much in the way of blankets. He was warm all the way down to his toes, and every part in between. Her arm came out from in between them to snake around him, like she wanted to get closer but couldn't get closer to him if she tried. Her hair tickled his face somewhat, so he lightly blew the strands away, trying not to move in the process. He just wanted to feel her body meld to his.

It had been so long since they had actually touched each other. The connection was nothing compared to the real woman. He wasn't touching skin and wanted to so badly his hand shook with anticipation. Gingerly, he removed his hand from in between them to slide down her back to the hem of her long-sleeve shirt. It was the first time he had seen her in something that covered her in quite a while. He almost groaned in pleasure as he felt the soft, warm skin of her back beneath his fingertips.

The hard planes of her muscles were always in contrast to how soft her skin was. Very much like the woman herself. Soft on the inside, tough exterior shown to the world. He eased his hand flat on her back, gently rubbing circles. She moaned a little in her sleep, adjusting herself yet again, this time removing her leg to fling it over his hip. He grunted at her coming in contact with his morning hard-on. Wishing she had at least stripped him last night, he would have to make due with just touching with his hand for now. They both had too many clothes on and Faith hadn't gotten enough rest in a long time, so he'd have to keep his raging hormones at bay for a while longer.

He didn't even know if she would let him touch her any longer, much less any intimate hugs during sleep. Taking advantage at the moment didn't seem right, but his hand still made small circles on her back. His hands and other parts of his body didn't listen to his logical mind.

It was when Faith removed her hand from his back to slink down his body to come into contact with his other very hard part that he knew she'd been faking sleep. Then he couldn't hold back a groan. She had expert hands.

"Tell me one thing," she spoke into his chest. "Do all guys wake up rarin' to go? Cause that's one impressive show goin' on down there."

"And what would you pay to see the rest of the show?"

Faith removed her hand. "How about you in the shower, right now? I was really tired of the not taking showers thing when we were on the road. Go, now." She swatted him on the butt to make her point. "Don't use all the hot water."

"We could conserve water."

"Hurry up, watcher before I change my mind."

Wesley rolled out of bed, slowly got up and headed for the bathroom. So she wanted to give him privacy to pull himself together after a rough night. He quickly showered, washing the grime of last night's withdrawal episode from his body. When he came out of the bathroom with just a towel draped across his hips, Faith nodded approvingly, and then took her turn.

He wondered if he should call Giles to tell him that he had found Faith safe and sound. But before he could make up his mind, Faith had already finished her shower.

Her dark hair hung dripping down her back, towel tucked in over her breasts. She had washed all the makeup off of her face, making her look younger and more beautiful in his eyes. No, it didn't matter what she wore, unless it was nothing at all. That was what he was working towards as she swayed her hips walking to the bed.

He could sense her arousal through their link, making it all that stronger and intense for him. He knew exactly what she wanted right at that moment. So he reached out for her, pulling on her towel so she came forward into his arms. Smelling the soap from her shower, he grazed his lips over her collarbone, up one side of her neck, and over her throat to the other side. Her gasp of surprise spurned him on to her shoulder and down her arm, until he took a finger and bit down gently. She moaned her pleasure at the action.

"You're really gonna make me suffer, aren't you?" she asked as he returned his mouth to her other shoulder.

"Depends."

Faith snorted at his comment. "Depends on how crazy I make you?"

Wesley pulled on the towel to make it fall to the ground. "Oh, I think the other way around."

"I thought you were the one who wasn't supposed to walk for a week afterwards."

As his mouth moved over her breast, he chuckled. He'd see about that. Besides, if neither one of them could walk, then they could spend all that time in bed with each other. Her body seemed rounder, like she'd put on a little weight after their ordeal. He was so glad she hadn't suffered like he had. She distracted him from thinking too much by reaching down and removing his towel.

He gave equal treatment to her other side, sliding his hands behind her back to support her. If his knees were weak from just touching her, he could imagine how she must feel at the moment.

"Wes, bed now," she cried.

As he came down on the bed, Faith slowly crawled on top of him, kissing her way up his body until she focused on his mouth, devouring him. He pulled her down to crush her body to his, wanting to feel her everywhere.

She released his bottom lip to whisper in his ear, "I can't wait."

His mind was delirious, thinking of Faith and only Faith. She came down on him slowly, taking all of him in with a groan. He let her set the pace, not minding that she took control this time. Hoping that there would be many other times, he watched as she took her time, not wanting to finish too soon. As he stroked her body, he saw that she held back just a little. His body would not last that much longer with her already tight around him.

So he sped up the action a little with his hand, making her moan.

"Come with me, my love," he told her, knowing that he might leave her in the dust this time.

His words had that effect on her to send her over the edge, bringing him with her. She collapsed in his arms, wet hair making the bed damp. But it was her tears that made his face damp as she raised her head to look into his eyes. She started to cry in earnest, not caring that she finally had stopped holding back. A little voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he hadn't been responsible, but he quelled that voice immediately, not wanting to ruin the moment between them.

"It doesn't matter," she whispered as she lay her head down on his chest.

Oh damn, another puzzle just clicked into place. And he called himself a detective. Took him long enough to notice. His body tensed at the thought. Maybe he was wrong. Faith sobbed harder with that thought.

"You, we, did we . . . ."

Faith pushed off of him, slapping him on the chest for his lack of words. The problem was it really hurt when she slapped him. He winced in pain.

"Dumbass. Why are guys so stupid?"

Before Faith could crawl out of bed, Wesley grabbed her from behind and flipped her, pinning her to the bed underneath him. He knew she could get out any time, even hurt him doing it, but he wanted to hear the words from her mouth.

"I'm scared, Wes." And his heart melted. Dumbass, indeed. Even he felt like crying. So he gently touched his lips to hers, trying to reassure her that it would be all right.

"I'm here. And I love you. Remember that." Which made Faith cry that much harder.

Great, a slayer with hormonal surges. He'd have to learn how to duck faster. Wrong thought, as he saw her eyes grow wider. Then she flipped him back over, pinning him to the mattress.

"You. You did this to me. Explain yourself. It's your fault, you know."

This was the one time where he'd take full blame for it. He wanted to be the one to blame. And she could keep blaming him for the rest of his life since he felt like he was on cloud nine.

"I had some help, I'll have you know." And that was the story he'd stick with forever.

Faith looked down at her slightly rounded belly, putting her hand protectively over it. He couldn't wait to see her round and plump.

"Not being able to see my feet, you getting up at all hours for my cravings, which at this point could be anything from mint chocolate chip ice cream to burritos. You'll suffer, right along with me."

Wesley just grinned up at her. He placed his hand directly over the top of hers, linking their hands tightly.

"Baby?" she said gulping.

"You say it like it was a bad word."

"It just might be when you have to get up for two am feedings."

Wesley pulled her down into a hug on the bed. Kissing her soundly, his heart leapt for joy.

"We're doing this, aren't we, Wes?" Her voice held a hint of being terrified.

"Indeed we are."

"So everyone will know that we, you know."

"Had sex. Not too many other ways to make a baby." Wesley reached down to pull the blanket over them, cocooning them underneath.

"You know what the kicker is, that one time we didn't use something, well that wasn't it."

"How do you know?"

"I was tired way before that. And I am never that tired."

"Do you believe, the first time then?"

"My guess. See if I ever trust those vending machines again."

"There won't be a next time, at least under those circumstances."

Faith chuckled at the thought. "Don't say it. Because you'll jinx it all."

FIN


End file.
